Jaraguá do Sul, January 2024 – Duas Rodas, a Brazilian multinational producer of flavors, botanical extracts and ingredients for the food and beverage industry, has just acquired 100% of tropextrakt GmbH, a company based in Frankfurt, Germany. The transaction is part of a new growth cycle for Duas Rodas, a company that is about to celebrate its 100th anniversary, with headquarters in Jaraguá do Sul, Santa Catarina, production units in four countries, offices in the United States and China and more than 10,000 customers around the world, with a total turnover of 1.6 billion reais in 2023. “We are a company based on excellence and constant innovation”, says Leonardo Fausto Zipf, president of Duas Rodas. “With the acquisition of tropextrakt, we will create a business, research and innovation center for the European market.”
tropextrakt GmbH imports and distributes botanical extracts and a wide variety of natural tropical fruit products, such as purees and concentrated juices, to about 1,000 customers. In addition to supplying fundamental items to the manufacture of food and beverages, tropextrakt operates a laboratory for testing the application of ingredients in the final product. With the acquisition by Duas Rodas, this laboratory will be transformed into an innovation and technology center, which will expand the research and development of products aimed at the supplements and functional food industry. The health food market is one of Duas Rodas’ main avenues of growth in the European market. In 2022, the market for functional beverages, functional foods and supplements generated USD 380 billion globally and is expected to grow 6.5% per year until 2030, according to the Nutraceutical Growth Opportunities in Emerging Markets report by Consultoria Frost & Sullivan.
“The European market for botanical extracts and other ingredients for the production of nutraceuticals is one of the most sophisticated in the world”, says Rosemeri Francener, international business director at Duas Rodas. “From now on, we’ll be closer to local customers to develop increasingly innovative, healthy and sustainable products in partnership.”
tropextrakt is the fifth acquisition of Duas Rodas and the fourth outside of Brazil. The company currently has business units in the United States, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and China and exports to more than 40 countries. The company from Santa Catarina offers food and beverage manufacturers more than 3,000 items aimed at formulating various foodstuffs.
The acquisition of tropextrakt will be essential for Duas Rodas to continue to expand its exports. The international market represents, on average, 18% of the company’s total revenues and should reach 25% in the next 4 years without new acquisitions, or 45%, with new purchases.
In the last five years, Duas Rodas recorded an average annual growth of 16% in consolidated revenue and high performance in its results.
Duas Rodas, which has used innovation as its main source for growth since its foundation, invests about 5% of its annual revenue in digital transformation, technology and several initiatives that promote constant renewal and ensure the company’s pioneering spirit. In 2023, its CAPEX in technology was 23 million Brazilian reais. The result is a modern and highly technological company, with consistent growth and an increasingly efficient production process. In 2022, about 23% of the company’s revenues came from new products.
“Innovation is an important driver of competitiveness and expansion of our company’s business. We use market intelligence and a collaborative innovation structure involving customers, consumers, specialized technicians, and partnerships with Brazilian and international universities to identify consumption needs and anticipate market trends”, says Zipf. “All of this keeps us globally competitive.”
Duas Rodas, founded in 1925 in Jaraguá do Sul (SC) by the German couple Hildegard and Rudolph Hufenüssler, is one of the largest manufacturers of flavors, extracts and ingredients for the food and beverage industry. Leader in several segments in Brazil and Latin America, it is present with its flavors, textures, and colors in most of the foods consumed by the Brazilian population. With headquarters in Santa Catarina, it has six factories, three in Brazil and three in other Latin American countries (Mexico, Chile and Colombia), six R&D centers, as well as commercial offices in the United States and China. It employs about 1,700 people and produces more than three thousand items divided into three markets: Flavors (flavors, botanical extracts, condiments and additives, in addition to integrated solutions), Food Service (where it operates with the Selecta, Specialitá and Mix brands in the manufacture of ingredients for ice cream, chocolates and confectionery) and Animal Nutrition (ingredients for animal nutrition, with the Statera brand). The company has a team of more than 200 professionals, including highly specialized engineers and technicians, who develop proprietary solutions for both the production process and the creation of new products, often in partnership with customers. Key technologies used for innovation include artificial intelligence and big data – both as tools to improve efficiency and to monitor consumer behavior.
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