At the end of September, Boehringer Ingelheim (BI) announced the intended closure of its East Tamaki factory in Auckland at the end of 2022 and an associated downsizing of its sales force and closure of regional warehouses.
The East Tamaki factory is the manufacturing base for Boehringer’s oral sheep drenches, ectoparasite products and many of its cattle products. The closure will see such brands as Matrix for sheep, Cypercare, Arrest, Exodus, First, Oxfen, Polerise, Trimox, Switch, Cyrazin, Cyrazin KO, Arrest, Exodus PO, Genesis PO, Genesis Ultra and Iver-Matrix go out of the NZ market.
Products that are retained are: Matrix C, Bionic Plus, Eprinex PO, Eclipse PO, Eclipse Injection and BI’s trace element range.
BI is citing competition and low margins as the reason for the closure and restructure.
While this is a significant change for the NZ animal health market our clinics will be unaffected and our ability to supply our farmers high quality and proven drenches, pour-ons and ecto-parasite products remains solid.
Our move to include Alleva’s products seven years ago has put us in this strong position.
Alleva is a NZ based manufacturer which started with the BOSS pour-on for cattle and has gone on to provide a range of innovative formulations on which we can rely. The latest product being Turbo initial for calves which combines an oral worm drench and anti-coccidia. Further innovative products to support their current wide range are also imminent.
Alleva has been quick to reassure us that they will be supporting all our orders an important statement given Boehringer’s size in NZ.
This change follows an on-going and familiar pattern of the large global animal health companies firstly buying up NZ manufacturers and then amalgamating amongst themselves.
Boehringer purchased Merial who had previously purchased the NZ company Ancare.
This year Elanco purchased the animal health division of Bayer in a mega-sized deal and the global entity Zoetis has announced its intention to purchase the Australian owned animal health manufacturer, Jurox.
Not all mergers are detrimental but as your animal health supplier we remain committed to providing a range of high quality products associated with quality advice on their use.
