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Paolo Cristofori, CEO of Animal Wellness Products (AWP)

Animal Wellness Products (AWP), an Italian company from Castelnuovo Rangone, in the Modena province, has had a lot of success in the Chinese market. 

The company was founded and is still currently led by Paolo Cristofori as its CEO. It was him, alongside his 8 million euros in revenue company, who reached out to Chinese farmers. 

"We have been present in China since 2007, with a representative office in Beijing since March 2023, producing products for the Chinese market that were considered too advanced and technological in the past," explained Cristofori. 

"Our main products are concentrated feed additives, used for the enhancement of immune defenses and which also act as antioxidants and antimicrobials, with a proportion of 150 grams per ton of final feed," he said. 

"Our business focuses on livestock such as chickens, pigs, cattle and bees, adapting to the different cultures and consumption practices of each country. In the last two years, we have tackled the problem of swine fever in China, the Philippines and Vietnam, managing to reduce mortality from 30 percent to 8-7 percent in these countries thanks to our products," Cristofori noted.

"It is no coincidence, therefore, that the turnover is divided between 65 percent coming from Asia (5 percent China), 15 percent from the Middle East, 10 percent from the Americas, and the remaining 15 percent from Europe. 

"We produce additives: They are highly concentrated products that are put into the feed; in a ton of feed there are about 100/150 grams of our product. They serve to increase the immune system and have strong antioxidant and antimicrobial activity; the aim is to reduce the use of antibiotics both as prevention and as treatment," said Cristofori. 

"In the last two years, not only in China but also in the Philippines and Vietnam, there was the problem of African swine fever, the PSA, which caused very high mortality with enormous losses. With our product, we managed to limit this phenomenon and the economic losses. In Vietnam and China, with our products, we went from a mortality of 30 percent to 7-8 percent," Cristofori noted.

All production takes place in the state-of-the-art factory in Crevalcore, equipped with the latest technologies available on the market in 2019. "We are the only company in the world that produces 20-pound vacuum bags," says Cristofori. "In practice, they become like coffee packets; this is to ensure freshness and a longer life."

The prospects? "We have set ourselves the goal of developing at the best of our possibilities the potentially strong countries where we already operate: Brazil, China, and India, where the animal population, both from the point of view of income animals and pets, is very big. 

The target for 2024 in terms of turnover is to exceed 10 million euros and then follow the same trend for at least two to three years." That is not all. The ultimate goal is to produce breeding stock that meets the continuous demands of the market, which demands quality, antibiotic-free, and sustainability. 

Thanks to the capital injection by Cherry Bay Capital, we are focusing on innovation with the launch of 3-4 new products and are considering partnerships with companies that can complete our range, maintaining close contacts with different Italian and foreign companies: at least 2 or 3 are potentially synergistic," added Cristofori.