New company will produce collagen, gelatin to food, pharmaceutical, cosmetics industries

08/10/2022

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Claudia Yamana — Foto: Silvia Zamboni/Valor

Giant meatpacker JBS has a new venture. The company starts this month the operations of Genu-in, a new company that will produce collagen peptides and gelatin from bovine skin coming from the company’s production chain. The investment in the business totaled R$400 million, with an eye on a market of $4 billion a year that has grown more than 15% annually in the last five years, data by consultancy Allied Market Research show.

The new business will sell peptides and gelatin to the food, pharmaceutical, and cosmetics industries. Collagen is widely known as a protein that helps with skin hydration, wrinkle reduction, and cartilage regeneration, among other benefits.

“It is a company that was born big, positioning itself among the three major players in the market with 10% of the global market for peptides and bovine skin gelatin,” said Claudia Yamana, CEO of the group’s new company.

The investment is higher than the R$280 million forecast in February 2021, when JBS announced the venture. The higher contribution is due to higher prices of steel, copper, materials for manufacturing the equipment, and transportation expenses, the company said.

Genu-in will be the main Brazilian company in this field. A direct competitor of JBS in the processing of bovine protein, Marfrig, for example, only sells the by-products of its production to collagen and gelatin manufacturers. Globally, the biggest competitors are German company Gelita and Rousselot, of U.S.-based Darling Ingredients. Both have operations in Brazil.

Genu-in joins the new business division of JBS, with operations that transform the by-products of the cattle, pork, and poultry processing chains into products such as leather, biodiesel, fertilizers, feed, pharmaceutical inputs, personal care, and cleaning materials. Collagen was already produced by JBS, but for use in industrialized foods made from meat.

The executive argues that the differential to the competitors is precisely in the control of the entire chain, “from the origin to the plant,” preserving native collagen and its benefits. In the first moment, production will be concentrated on products made from bovine skin.

With a facility in Presidente Epitácio, São Paulo, Genu-in starts operations with more than 130 employees. Production capacity is 6,000 tonnes per year of collagen peptides and 6,000 tonnes of gelatin per year.

“The installed capacity here is five times larger than the domestic market,” says Ms. Yamana. The company will operate in the foreign market, but also sees growth potential in the domestic market “as the population ages.”

The first launch is the collagen peptide Genu-in Life, an ingredient for health and beauty products. The component will be in the formulation of third-party brands that will reach final consumers through the retail market by early 2023, according to Ms. Yamana. Another product is Genu-in Gel gelatin, which is used by the food industry in the production of desserts, ice creams, and candies, and by pharmaceuticals in the development of pills and medicine capsules.

*By Raquel Brandão — São Paulo

Source: Valor International

https://valorinternational.globo.com/