Globally, Croda’s sales were up 40% in the first half of 2021. What were the main factors behind this performance?

Firstly, our existing business showed a strong underlying growth benefiting from investment together with increased innovation. Consumer demand was significantly strong and customers were also restocking aligned with economic recovery. On top of that, the record performance was also driven by acquisitions undertaken over the last year, notably Avanti Polar Lipids and Iberchem, opening significant opportunities for Croda. I should also mention that our life science sector showed an excellent performance with our health care business delivering exceptionally well.

Can you explain how Croda has been working with Pfizer to supply components for the Covid-19 vaccine?

The partnership with Pfizer is a clear example of Croda’s purpose of smart science to improve lives. As a company, this is one of our proudest moments – to be part of such an important global battle and use our innovative capabilities and capacity to help fight the pandemic. Avanti Polar Lipids participated since the beginning partnering with Pfizer-BioNTech on the vaccine development and regulatory approvals. Since Croda/Avanti secured a contract to supply delivery system components to Pfizer for the Covid-19 vaccine, the company is playing a critical role in scale-up of the vaccine that has been achieved in unprecedented time and is now being delivered at pace.

How significant is the Latin American market for Croda?

The Latin American market is a strong contributor to Croda’s global strategy and has delivered important growth over the last four years. In 2021, we are witnessing the highest investment level ever in Croda’s manufacturing and innovation premises at our site at Campinas, through new capabilities and increasing capacity in some of our assets. Major investments include capacity increase and new capability expanding product portfolio in our acrylic polymer plant to attend the strong crop care market in our region. We are also growing our consumer care product portfolio, as well as increasing and modifying lanolin plant mainly for the healthcare industry.

What is Croda’s approach to sustainability?

Our commitment is to be the most sustainable supplier of innovative ingredients. We will create, make and deliver solutions to tackle some of the biggest challenges the world is facing. By 2030 we will be climate, land and people positive through a set of stretching targets connected with the United Nations Sustainability Development Goals. We aim to reduce our carbon emissions by 50% by 2030 and become net zero emission by 2050.  To achieve these goals over 75% of our organic raw materials by weight will be bio-based in the region.

Can you elaborate on the evolution of Croda’s innovation center in Brazil?

Croda invested in developing an R&D center in Brazil and 1,000 square meters have been added to the facility over the last years. Together with the infrastructure investment, we also built a knowledgeable team who works very close with the customers to understand market trends and customer’s needs. Through internal innovation as well as open innovation with universities and third parts entities we aim to create the best innovative solutions for our customers. Our team works fully aligned with our sustainability targets to deliver innovative solutions. This year we are investing in Iberchem’s new production unit and R&D centre for fragrance and flavors to be built in Brazil.

How would you define Croda’s vision in Latin America for the next five years?

Over the next 5 years, our ambitious is to consistently grow our top and bottom line, delivering strong increase in our turnover and profit as well as growing our customer base threefold, simultaneously increasing our product portfolio and product base through innovation. The healthcare market is one where we see immense opportunities, followed by crop care and consumer care market. Croda’s growth will continue to be driven both organically through investments into our current operations, as well as strategic growth through M&A, which has been key to our expansion in Latin America.