Less than two years ago, as it was already implemented and recognized in Portugal, Mundifios decided to take advantage of the market's opportunities and change the fundamentals of its business by investing in the production area. «In the case of spinning in Portugal, it has to do with continuing a collection and an added value that we offered our clients», justifies Joaquim Fernandes. From the “rubbles” of Fiação de Covas, which became insolvent, emerged Inovafil, that employs approximately 90 people and represents 8% to 10% of the turnover of Mundifios group. «It is a reasonable percentage which meets the market demands», states the administrator, adding that «we are a company with a strong commercial culture and it is within the commercial area that we feel at ease». Besides spinning, in Portugal the company is involved in a cotton project in Mozambique with a local partner and the Portuguese companies Mundotêxtil and Crispim Abreu. Nonetheless, Mozambique Cotton Manufacturers has had a slow evolution, not because of the recent security problems in the country, which the company states it has not felt, but because of logistic and bureaucratic difficulties. «The project is doing well but its execution has suffered some delays. When you arrive in Mozambique everything seems easy but further on difficulties emerge», revealsJoaquim Fernandes. Right now, the project is in its first phase - the assembly of the spinning mill. «The second phase is implementing the weaving and the third phase is the dyeing and the finishes and the fourth is the implementation of a textile industrial cluster that includes the construction of an industrial park with all the valences to give more consistency to this huge investment and associate it to other components of the textile area», he states.

A project that will expand the international influence of the company, which currently achieves 30% of its turnover in the external markets. We achieved that amount two years ago and it is very difficult to grow because the European market, in which we started our internationalisation process, is a small and very competitive one», clarifies the administrator.

In 2013, Mundifios expects a performance lower than that of 2012, when the turnover totalled approximately 71.4 million euros. «It has to do with a restrictive edit licy that we had to adopt and also with the emergence of some players in the market that forced the prices down and did not allow us to grow or even stabilize», he declares. In the future, the company plans to place the client at the centre of its strategy. «We will try to be as competitive as possible, offering the lowest prices to obtain orders and increase the range of products in stock to meet the needs, mainly regarding the yarns for the fast fashion clothes», concludes Mundifios administrator.

in: Jornal Têxtil - DEZEMBRO 2013 nº 179