AnMar International: Experience Is Key

Armed with the experience and knowledge of selling raw materials to the nutraceuticals industry, John Blanco, president, and Hongbing Deng, executive vice president, came together as partners and friends to start their own venture called AnMar International, Bridgeport, CT, almost 10 years ago. Both gentlemen at the time found it difficult to supply raw materials in a timely fashion without having inventory, so after receiving the necessary financing, Mr. Blanco and Mr. Deng set out to build their new business in July 1995. “I had a working relationship with Hongbing prior to starting AnMar. He has lived in the U.S. for approximately 20 years and is now a U.S. citizen. However, previously he had worked in China for a company that supplied raw materials, so he knew a lot of the companies that we thought would be ideal suppliers for quality raw materials,” Mr. Blanco said. “We were looking for quality producers of nutraceutical type products that we could buy at reasonable prices and then introduce into the U.S. market. Over the last several years, the company has evolved in many directions.”

Since its inception, AnMar has ad­ded manufacturing capabilities and become a supplier of ingredients to companies in the pharmaceutical, nutritional supplement and food and beverage industries. The company imports the majority of its products from China, but it also purchases products from Korea, India, Brazil, Taiwan and Japan. The product lines carried by AnMar today include vitamins, pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals, a­mino acids, minerals and excipients.

In 1998, AnMar established an office in Shanghai, China. Today, this office is responsible for purchasing, logistic services and public relations with AnMar’s Chinese vendors. Over the years, according to the company, AnMar’s Shanghai Office, headed by its manager, Ms. Pin Gu, has developed a reliable sourcing network. In addition, most of AnMar’s products are produced in cGMP and ISO9000 certified plants.

Following the creation of its Shanghai office, AnMar made a significant move to single-source products, according to Mr. Blanco. “In the early years of our business, we found that there were certain companies we couldn’t depend on,” he said. As a result of those experiences, Mr. Blanco and Mr. Deng made a conscious decision to weed out a lot of those companies and single-source products—buy one product from one company. “This was good for us and our customers,” Mr. Blanco said, “because they would be guaranteed consistent, quality products. Furthermore, it made it easier for us to visit the factories every year to make sure everything was in check.”

Expansion has been the latest development for the company. In order to better serve its customers, AnMar recently expanded its blending facility. “The main reason we set up this facility was to be able to transition from just selling the raw materials to selling more value-added products,” Mr. Blanco said.

Due to the growth on the food side of AnMar’s business, it has become more involved in contract blending and granulation. “We see a lot of growth potential in the specialty blends that we are creating for other people. We are making a lot more blends for beverage and specialty nutraceutical products, including bars and joint health products,” Mr. Blanco said. “Our beverage blend business is very active in part due to our raw material position within the energy drink segment.” According to Mr. Blanco, AnMar is one of the larger suppliers of D-glucuronolactone, which is a major ingredient in energy drinks—carbonated and non-carbonated. “Our business is moving more toward the functional food area, and that is where I think the industry is headed. I have been watching this market for a long time and it has really blossomed,” he said. “Now it is being taken up more by the mainstream food industry because mainstream consumers are looking to remedy or prevent a variety of health issues through food.”

Commenting on the state of the nu­traceuticals industry, Mr. Blanco offered, “The industry is a little flat, with the exception of the beverage segment. This is because there is nothing new or ‘hot’ at the moment that is motivating the industry. This is in contrast to several years ago when the industry’s products were media darlings. When things were hot, it pulled a lot of other things with it and revitalized old categories like vitamins and minerals.” He continued, “The industry will continue to grow very slowly unless there is some new magical thing that comes along that forces it to grow in one particular direction.”—R.M.W.

AnMar International
540 Barnum Avenue
P.O. Box 2343
Bridgeport, CT 06608
Telephone: 203-336-8330
Fax: 203-336-5508
E-mail: blancoanmar@snet.net
Website: www.anmarinternational.com