Goyal Salt expands product portfolio with launch of black salt
Annual R&D expenditures totaling around € 20 million
AGRANA, one of the leading food and industrial goods groups from Austria, is increasing its focus on innovations and investing around € 3.4 million at two R&D sites in France and Austria this year.
The annual R&D expenditures of the AGRANA Group amount to around € 20 million. AGRANA employs a total of approximately 300 personnel in the area of research and development.
In a highly competitive environment, the strategic objective of AGRANA is to differentiate itself from competitors by means of new product developments in its fruit, starch and sugar business segments.
For its fruit preparations business, AGRANA maintains 17 development centres around the world which work on new formulations, special ingredients and raw materials as well as new application areas for existing products. Five of these so-called New Product Development Centres are located in Europe, namely in Gleisdorf (Austria), Ostroleka (Poland), Serpukhov (Russia), Vinnytsia (Ukraine) and in Mitry-Mory (France), where the development centre has recently been upgraded for € 2.6 million, including the addition of 700 m2 of laboratory space.
The AGRANA Research & Innovation Centre (ARIC) in Tulln is the main research and development subsidiary within the AGRANA Group. On an area of around 4,000 m2 at ARIC, 85 employees work on research projects related to fruit, starch and sugar. ARIC is currently undergoing expansion work, with the aim being to create a further 300 m2 for research purposes by the end of the year. The investment volume amounts to € 800,000.
Photo caption- L-R: AGRANA Fruit Europe General Manager Olivier Roques, New Lab Project Manager Candice Grégoire, Major of Mitry Mory Charlotte Blandiot-Faride, AGRANA CEO Johann Marihart, AGRANA CTO Norbert Harringer, AGRANA Fruit COO Benoit Biquet