Silvia Naishtat
06/17/2021 6:16 PM
Clarín.com
Economy
Updated 06/17/2021 6:16 PM
Simplot began to think about Argentina in 2014 and only in 2019 at the hands of Fabio Calcaterra and after an investment of
US $ 140 million
that involved the purchase of fields, it settled in Mendoza. Simplot, with its heart in Idaho in the United States,
fights in the world in that segment with another giant, the Canadian McCain.
They are both in Argentina. McCain, in Balcarce, a region considered the world capital of potatoes due to its soil and climate characteristics.
But Calcaterra suggested Simplot to look in another area such as Mendoza, with a high temperature range and a scarcity of water that generates a highly valued characteristic in frozen potatoes:
that it be crispy
. That tipped the balance and explains the investments in a business like frozen foods that suffered more than the rest in terms of falling sales. Simplot
supplies fast food chains in the region such as McDonalds, Burger King and KFC
.
Calcaterra thinks that with Brazil in full recovery and an improvement in consumption in Argentina, it will improve a business that has a
turnover of US $ 100 million a year
.
From the new cold store they will
export to Brazil
, their main client with 20% of the volume.
Other destinations are Chile, Uruguay, Colombia, Bolivia, Peru and China.
Simplot also specializes in frozen vegetables worldwide.
The San Fili firm, Simplot's supplier, produces potatoes on a 1,500-hectare farm, which is managed with irrigation.
The warehouses were completed in the midst of a pandemic with 150 skilled workers and an investment of
20 million dollars.
They are fully automated, have two stacker cranes that store the products and
keep them at minus 21 degrees.
It is considered an innovative project in the Mendoza seismic zone.
The processing plant is located in Luján de Cuyo.
Annually it produces more than
100,000 tons of frozen potatoes
.
30% of the production that goes to the domestic market is distributed in restaurants and supermarkets.
According to Calcaterra in Argentina there is a lot to grow.
Per capita consumption is 3.5 kilos per year, when in Europe it is double and in the United States it is close to 15 kilos.
