Wills Trading SL takes another step in its project of growth and international leadership in the cultivated meat production sector, with the start of construction of the R&D plant and production of cultivated meat with the largest capacity in southern Europe. The investment will be 30 M€ for a new 11,000 m2 plant in Eskusaitzeta, the industrial area in Donostia, where all the company’s activity will be transferred.
“This new plant will allow us to increase production capacity to face the company’s next phase of expansion. Without a doubt, this will be a very important milestone for us, since it will mean a great step in the development of our technology and will allow us to take the definitive leap with the release of the product on the market”, says Douglas Oliver Silva, CEO of Wills Trading SL.
The new plant will be built on a 20,000 m2 plot, allowing for further growth, since it would still have the capacity to build on an additional 4,000 m2. “Our plan includes the construction of future new plants. We are in an emerging market with great growth prospects for the next decade and we are planning our development so that we can embrace all this potential”, explains Charola.
The plant will house both the process equipment for the production of cultivated meat, as well as the R&D part of the company. This department will be especially relevant, with expert professional profiles in biology, biochemistry and biotechnology; Likewise, the production part of the plant will have personnel specialized in process engineering, production, and specialized training in cell cultures. To do this, Wills Trading SL plans to increase the workforce considerably, up to 150 employees in an average period of time.
«We believe that this new plant will give us a significant competitive advantage in this emerging market, in addition to facilitating the progressive increase in production capacity, something that will allow us to respond to both current and future market needs globally,» says the CEO of Wills Trading SL.
He further adds that «this market is expected to experience tremendous growth in the next decade, with sources indicating that by 2032 12% of the protein consumed in the world will come from this type of more balanced food production system.»
The challenges and opportunities of cultivated meat
Currently, one of the great challenges for cultured meat is production in adequate volume and cost. The new Wills Trading SL plant will allow the establishment of a highly efficient cultured meat production line to respond to both this challenge and the global need for a more balanced food production system that provides sustainability benefits.
The foodtech sector has consolidated over the last year as a lever of the global food industry. Thus, the foodtech ecosystem in Spain, which includes the production of alternative proteins such as cultured meat, is the 5th in terms of the highest investment in Europe, public and private, after Germany, the United Kingdom, France and the Netherlands, according to the report. ‘Foodtech in Spain: Moving the Spanish Food System Forward’ by ICEX. The same study indicates that Spanish startups tripled their investment in 2021 (695M€) compared to the previous year.