After the peak years between 2018 and 2022, the greenhouse market is struggling. Since the war, the Russian market has fallen away. Marck Hagen, CEO of Atrium Agri, was recently a guest on a Dutch podcast show, BNR Nieuwsradio 'De Top van Nederland', and discussed, among other things, how the business group is dealing with the loss of the Russian sales market.
The CEO notes a more cautious approach to investment in glasshouse projects since 2022. The outbreak of war in Ukraine and the resulting financial challenges has caused as much as a third of sales to drop, so in recent years, the greenhouse builder has been pulling out all the stops to recover from this loss.
Million-dollar projects
While geopolitical developments make things more difficult, economies of scale also affects the greenhouse construction market. These days, project budgets no longer sit at around 10 million euros, often reaching more than 100 million euros, resulting in investors needing longer time periods for consideration. Projects don't just get off the ground anymore and have faced postponements, but Marck expects that the "pushed back projects" will still come, stressing in conversation with presenter Thomas van Zijl that no projects have been lost.
In the podcast, which also discusses the entry of private equity party Value Enhancement Partners (VEP), Marck also talks about Atrium Agri's course: investing in innovation, entering new markets and focusing even more on sustainable solutions in greenhouse horticulture. Russia may be out of the question now, but Marck sees the Middle East, Brazil and the US as growth markets.
US import duties on steel and aluminum are going to hurt greenhouse horticulture. Marck reckons those products will become slightly more expensive, but conversely, Trump's plans could actually strengthen demand for local cultivation, and thus the construction of greenhouses, in the US.
Another growth market is China. Hagen cites NASA images from China, which showed substantial growth of greenhouses. Bom Group, one of the Atrium companies, has a strong focus on China.
Listen to the BNR podcast here (in Dutch).
For more information:
Atrium Agri
[email protected]
www.atriumagri.com