Biosourced, biodegradable, with guava flavors, lettuce, mango, vanilla… Specializing in lubricating and depolluting products, the European applied chemistry company (EECA) takes the turn towards new diversification by launching in May a range of ecological dishwashing liquid with sweet scents. This opens up the domestic market for cleaning products., until now the reserved domain of imports.
By expanding into the detergent market, it is more than an import-substitution niche that EECA is preparing to invest, company based in the Port, founded in 1997 by Dominique Rio, best known for its Eller brand. After the closure of the SIB in 2013, the cleaning products market has returned to imports. EECA has opened a first breach there, a year and a half ago, by producing dishwashing liquid in 5L format on behalf of the Leclerc network. A popular product that works very well. EECA takes the step of diversification by investing in the manufacturing of plastic bottles and in a new packaging line to be able to offer a wider range of tableware products. Work to expand its premises and energy equipment complete the investment of 800,000 euros, supported by aid from France Relance covering 50% of the expense. Project advantage : importing the raw material alone reduces the carbon footprint of freight. Furthermore, EECA's raw material is biosourced to guarantee a biodegradable product. Job creation will accompany the ramp-up of production. As for pei perfumes, more familiar to Reunion Islanders than the apple, they bring an additional touch of something new to the product.
A thirty-year-old company
Rather discreet so far, EECA is part of the “thirties” club of the Reunion industry. It is a little-known flagship of local production. By founding his company, Dominique Rio brought to Réunion 20 years of experience in the management of hydrocarbons in the service of the French armies.. His project : local production of motor oils, exclusive bastion of import. Shaking up the places acquired, his brand, Or, was very quickly the subject of a vigorous and effective denigration campaign which prompted him to temporarily retreat, but who was, paradoxically, at the origin of the successive diversifications which have made the company successful. Evil for good in some way. “In the years 2012-2013, we asked ourselves what exactly our job was. We told ourselves that we were not oil manufacturers but a parachemistry company that could mix many other things” explains Dominique Rio for whom “EECA promotes responsible parachemistry”.
A champion of import substitution
EECA, which now employs 30 people, is a benchmark company for several sectors of activity. Lubricants remain its primary specialty : for light vehicles and industrial vehicles, public works machinery, agricultural equipment, deep sea fishing boats, industrial equipment, etc. Around ten brands in total to which are added, for professionals, various environmental protection products such as retention basins and absorbents. For the automobile, EECA coolant product, windshield washer fluid and demineralized water. Diversified into depollutants, it develops two important local manufacturing : production under license from AD Blue, of which EECA holds 80% of the market (it supplies the Vito service station networks, The meadow and Ola), as well as the production of calcium nitrate, used to neutralize olfactory nuisances from wastewater treated by treatment plants. In total, 250 references appear in the EECA catalog, including around a hundred lubricants. The company's growth rate is approximately 20% per year (51% in 2021, year of containment catch-up). Eller and Mi M mon Caz products are stamped Nou la fé. No doubt it will be the same, in the short term, for new brands of pei dishwashing liquid.
The bottling, a new profession for EECA
At the origin of the new EECA project, there is therefore this request from Leclerc to Reunion : the distributor wanted to offer its customers a dishwashing liquid in a large family format under an own brand of local manufacture. Thus was born the brand Mi M mon Caz, distributed exclusively in Leclerc stores. With its new equipment, EECA now masters not only the mixtures, its basic industrial profession, but their packaging by producing its own bottles from preforms. The company plans to market three other formats of dishwashing liquid, in addition to the 5L container, with péi perfumes in transparent packaging, modern and aesthetic. A move upmarket that will pave the way, ensuite, to other products : concentrated dishwashing liquid, liquid laundry detergent, fabric softeners, floor and wall cleaners, etc.
