History and foundation of AGRANA | AGRANA

How it all began...

Founded as the holding company of the Austrian sugar and starch industry in 1988, AGRANA has successfully transformed to become a company that is active well beyond the borders of Austria, having nearly ten-fold its revenues during this time.

Production Site

Production Site

1988	AGRANA Beteiligungs-Aktiengesellschaft is set up to act as the umbrella for the merged Austrian sugar and starch industries; the company operates the three sugar factories in Hohenau, Leopoldsdorf and Tulln, the potato starch factory in Gmünd as well as the maize starch factory in Aschach
1989	Strategic alliance entered into with Germany's Südzucker AG Mannheim \| Ochsenfurt, which is Europe's largest sugar enterprise
1990	Entry into the Hungarian sugar industry and acquisition of a stake in Hungary's Hungrana maize starch and isoglucose factory

1991: Stock-exchange launch: 1,500,000 preference shares are listed in the Vienna stock exchange's B-Segment

1994	Entry into the Czech market: takeover of one sugar factory in Hrušovany
1996	Expansion of interests in Hungary: acquisition of Magyar Cukor AG
1998	Acquisition of stakes in 4 sugar factories in Romania and 2 sugar factories in Slovakia Acquisition of 2 more sugar factories in the Czech Republic
2001	Purchase of a maize starch factory Tandarei

2003: Development of the group's third Segment Fruit with it's operating units AGRANA Juice and AGRANA Fruit

2003	Complete takeover of Denmark's Vallø Saft A/S and acquisition of an initial stake in Austria's Steirerobst AG
2004	Start of the four-stage acquisition of France's Atys Group (world's leader in fruit preparations) Acquisition of Belgium's Dirafrost (frozen fruit specialities) Acquisition of Germany's Wink Group (fruit juice concentrates).
2005	Capital increase to raise additional funds for the continued pursuit of AGRANA's dynamic growth strategy Decision for the construction of a bioethanol plant Acquisition of DSF-Deutsch-Schweizerische Früchteverarbeitung GmbH based in Constance, Germany AGRANA opens the new fruit preparation plant in Serpuchov (South of Moscow)
2006	The reform of the Sugar Central Market Organisation forces AGRANA to rationalize operations; affected by this rationalization process are the plants in Hohenau \| Austria and Rimavska Sobota \| Slovakia AGRANA establishes a raw sugar refinery in Brcko \| Bosnia Herzegovina jointly with the Bosnian-Austrian company SCO Studen & Co Holding \| Vienna as 50 % partner AGRANA acquires a 50 % stake in concentrates manufacturer Xianyang Andre Juice Co. Ltd; the company is located in the province Shaanxi \| China AGRANA decided to establish a sales joint venture together with the Bulgarian sugar producer Zaharni Zavodi AD; AGRANA holds a stake of 51 %

2006: AGRANA acquires 100 % stake of Steirerobst

2007	AGRANA starts operations at new fruit preparations plant in Cabreuva \| Brazil. Start of pilot operations at the new bioethanol plant in Pischelsdorf \| Austria.
2008	AGRANA starts second joint venture for apple juice concentrate in Yongji \| Shanxi province \| China Commissioning of raw sugar refinery in Brcko \| Bosnia and Herzegovina Capacity increase at Hungrana's isoglucose and bioethanol plant

2008: Start of operations at the bioethanol plant in
Pischelsdorf | Austria

2010	AGRANA expands its presence in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) with a joint-venture in fruit preparation in Egypt in addition to existing facilities in Turkey and South Africa.
2011	Acquisition of 100 % of the shares of Xiangyang Andre Juice Co., Ltd. and the divestment of 50 % of Yongji Andre Juice Co., Ltd. AGRANA opens a production plant for fruit preparations in Johannesburg \| South Africa AGRANA inaugurates the second-largest sugar silo in Europe at its sugar factory in Tulln \| Austria
2012	Merger of AGRANA Juice Holding GmbH and Ybbstaler Fruit Austria GmbH to YBBSTALER AGRANA Juice GmbH

2013	AGRANA opens wheat starch plant at site in Pischelsdorf \| Austria
2014	AGRANA opens in the USA the fourth production plant for fruit preparations in Lysander \| New York Opening of the new AGRANA Research & Innovation Center in Tulln \| Austria
2015	AGRANA opens new packaging centre in Kaposvár \| Hungary
2016	Acquisition of 100% of the shares in Main Process S.A., an Argentine producer of fruit preparations
2017	Expansion of market position in Asia through the acquisition of the Indian fruit processing plant 'SAIKRUPA Fruit Processing Pvt. Ltd.'
2018	Expansion of the company´s presence of fruit preparations in Algeria by acquiring 49% of shares in Elafruits SPA
2019	Opening of a second fruit preparations plant in Changzhou\|China Expansion of the wheat starch plant in Pischelsdorf\|Austria Ground-Breaking Ceremony for Betaine plant in Tulln\|Austria (joint venture with Amalgamated Sugar Company)
2020	Aquisition of the American organic distribution company Marroquin Organic International Operational start of the betaine crystallisation plant in Tulln\|Austria (joint venture with Amalgamated Sugar Company)