Anupco turns its focus on UK pig market

Samantha Thompson, Anupco’s area sales manager, and Daniel Pujante Maher, general manager
Samantha Thompson, Anupco’s area sales manager, and Daniel Pujante Maher, general manager

A new range of medicines and complementary feeds are available to the UK pig industry from an East Anglian-based company, Anupco, which has just turned its attention to the home market.

The animal health company’s first shop window for producers and vets to discuss its range will be the British Pig and Poultry Fair at Stoneleigh Park, Warwickshire, on May 13-14.

Anupco, in the UK for almost 40 years, has until now focussed its attention on export markets, which has equipped it with skills in product formulation and packaging for diverse climates and production systems. It trades with more than 50 countries. Eight years ago the company was taken over by Kela, a family-owned Belgian animal health company.

Samantha Thompson, Anupco area sales manager, says: “Our decision to develop the UK market is a natural progression for us. “We have, under the Kela brand, recently acquired European registrations of several products and so it makes sense for us to bring these into the UK market via our Suffolk-based Anupco premises.”

There are a number of POM medicines for pigs – antimicrobials and a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory. These will be handled by a wholesaler that has a good, established presence in the market.

“We also have a wholesale licence, enabling us to sell our wide range of complementary feed products to the UK pig industry and for us to be a distributor for other companies,” she adds. Anupco’s range includes feed supplements incorporating vitamins, trace elements and amino acids along with plant extract and herbal formulations giving a wide range of options to support animal health.

Helping the company to develop the UK market is pig consultant Mark Lowden, who has spent his career in the UK animal health industry. An e-commerce website to boost direct sales is expected to be up and running in time for the Pig and Poultry Fair.

Business growth already requires some rethinking at the company’s East Anglia premises. At the time of the take-over Kela saw the potential for business growth with Anupco. It built new premises which, at 1,680 sq m, were several times larger than the company’s original home.