Cat litter - Tough competition

At present the market is still developing in very different ways in the individual countries of Europe. France, Germany and the United Kingdom are the major countries when it comes to purchasing cat litter, with an estimated volume of 400 000 t and more. In Italy and Spain, where cats are for the most part kept out of doors, the market is much smaller. The volume of the Italian market is put at 130 000 t, and of the Spanish market at 70 000 t. Sepiolite is much more successful in southern Europe than in central or northern Europe. This is connected with the dominance of the market leader Tolsa, which has its own mines in Spain, a fact that enables it to supply the retail trade in southern Europe cheaply with the litter produced there. The Spanish company Sepiolsa also plays an important role in the sepiolite cat litter market.
Mining the bentonite clay used for the "Biokat's" brand. The picture comes from a deposit in Lower Bavaria, south Germany.
The total volume of the European cat litter market is estimated at approx. 1.3 mio t, or about half the size of the US market. Sepiolite currently accounts for approx. 600 000 t of the total. However, the market share of this mineral is declining more and more in favour of bentonite. Süd-Chemie AG, number two in the European cat litter market, has in the very recent past made strenuous efforts to further consolidate its position in southern and eastern Europe. Since 1997 the company has had complete control of areas of Sardinia rich in deposits of calcium montmorillonite, a so-called phyllosilicate. This has allowed Süd-Chemie to set its course for expansion into southern Europe. As chief executive Norbert Röwekämper explained to PET in Europe, Gimborn is enjoying fresh impetus in Spain, especially where "Compact" and "Ultra" products are concerned. Business is currently even more successful in Italy, where according to Norbert Röwekämper the cat litter market is 70 per cent dominated by bentonite products in the own-label category. A prime quality brand like "Biokat's" has very good market opportunities there, according to the chief executive of Gimborn. At present H. von Gimborn still generates 80 per cent of the company's sales in Germany, where Süd-Chemie stripmines the bentonite clay used for "Biokat's" and processes it into cat litter at its works in Kelheim and Duisburg. Gimborn's strongest foreign markets are Italy, Switzerland and the Netherlands, with Austria and Spain occupying slots further down the…