Malaga-based meat company Famadesa has decided to increase the investment budget for the project to extend its facilities, currently underway in Campanillas (Malaga), to €30m.

The initial plan was for €24m, as estimated at the start of the project two years ago.

The company has introduced some changes which have made it necessary to make this €6m contribution, mainly due to the acquisition of 110,000 m2 of adjacent land and the inclusion in the plans of the construction of a new wastewater treatment facility. 

First phase of expansion to be completed in 2020 

At present, the expansion of Famadesa’s facilities has completed the first phase, which includes new stables, an airing room with a surface area of 1,957 m2 and a stabilisation chamber of 4,043 m2 – last year an investment of 7.4 M was formalised -, while the assembly of the wastewater treatment facility is already underway. The construction of a 2,921 m2 cutting room and the extension of the slaughterhouse, which will add some 1,978 m2, will begin shortly. After completion of the entire project, the facility will have a processing capacity of 800 pigs/hour at start-up and 1,000 pigs/hour at full capacity. 

The company has already set up new cold stores in 2019, with a 2,500 m2 warehouse, where it can store up to 3,000 t of product. 

Advances in R&D&I and Biodiversity 

For months now, as we can see, Famadesa has been developing the expansion and technological improvement of its industry in R&D, thanks to a grant from the European Union and its own resources, which has allowed it to undertake an important project for a new cutting room, as well as new corrals and an automated driving system, focused precisely on setting up slaughtering and product preparation lines, aimed at meeting the demands of the foreign market. 

Export markets/main destinations 

The main market for Malaga frozen pork meat products is China, where 67 percent of exports are invoiced, followed by Portugal (17.5 percent) and France (4.75 percent). These products are also exported from Malaga to ten other countries, according to Extenda data: Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, Germany, Benin, Sweden, Mozambique, Niger, Uruguay, Comoros, Togo and Haiti. 

True reflection of 2020 and 2021 

Famadesa obtained sales of 303 million euros in 2020, with a growth of 7.4% over the 282 million obtained in 2019, with an average workforce of 1,000 people. Some €185m came from pork exports, following a 26% increase, with China and Portugal as the main destinations. 

In the first quarter of 2021, the figures reflect a very positive evolution also in terms of exports and similar to the upward trend at the end of the previous financial year. International sales increased by more than 25% compared to the same period in 2020. The Asian market, mainly China, is once again the main customer or destination, with an increase in sales of 97%. 

Its international transactions have been well over a thousand operations for years, mainly with China and Europe, which together with the Philippines, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and Mexico are the main countries of its foreign market.