You don’t have to go to Algeria alone and if you want to do business, better than far from there. That’s the case for Rafael Juan, owner of Vicky Foods, a Valencian company that sells brands like Dulcesol (pastries) or Beplus (healthy food). Known for promoting the internationalization of the company founded by his grandfather, Juan began selling his products hand in hand with a local partner in Algeria in 2010. Mansurlu, a family dedicated to the distribution of food products. But marketing her cakes in the North African country was so difficult that she decided to follow Mansouri’s advice and settle there in 2014.
Vicky Foods used the subsidiary it had established with its partner Dulcesol Algerie and established a center in the city for the production of muffins, brioche and biscuits. Next53 kilometers away Ratio. Today, eight years later, the company is the first patisserie company in the country, with a 6,300-square-metre factory and employing 184 workers. In 2021, 6,975 tons of cakes and other sweets came out of the three production lines. Algeria is the company’s third foreign market after France and Portugal. As a whole, foreign sales contribute 22% of revenue.
The Juan family business is not the only food company operating in North Africa’s second-richest country after only Egypt. GB FoodsIt is owned and controlled by the Carulla family. white chicken and Avecrem, Algeria, which has been selling products under the Jumbo brand for over 25 years, and has a factory in the country.
Vicky Foods and GB are two of them. 129 Spanish companies With interests in Algeria, the main gas supplier to the Iberian Peninsula, which had just cut ties with Spain after the Government of Pedro Sánchez supported Morocco’s proposal for autonomy. Western sahra. The Spanish Executive, in response, is considering accusing Algeria before the European Union. Included in the Foreign Trade Institute (ICEX) census as of 30 June 2021, these companies are, among others, marketers (export and import), industrial (manufacturing), concessionaires, service providers or branches of Spanish financial institutions.
naturalness (Shareholder of Mezgaz pipeline), cesa Y repsol (with gas and oil fields), construction companies (FCC, Mixed Africa, Blauverd or Ecisa), railway material companies (CAF or Rover Rail), engineering companies (Inima or Sener), financial institutions (CaixaBank and Sabadell) in Algeria have together. and shipping groups such as Suardiaz or Tiba Spain according to ICEX data.
The economy of Algeria, which is located on the Mediterranean coast in North Africa and has a high population, 44 million populationlargely depends on the State, which owns about 45% of the country’s GDP and controls major hydrocarbon and energy companies. With a per capita income of approximately $3,974 (current prices), middle class dominates and attracts consumption, which acts as a magnet to attract foreign companies. Selling in the local market requires dealing with a wholesaler-distributor network that is shared with other companies and distributed throughout the region. Those who know this market well explain that negotiating directly with the end customer is unusual in a country that does not make it easier for foreign partners to repatriate their profits either. Therefore, legal insecurity caused by a market dominated by bureaucracy and constant legal changes complicates the permanence profession.
Even so, Rafael Juan claims that the effort has paid off and that he has the mandate to remain in Sig despite diplomatic tensions between the two countries and has not affected him for the time being.