As general manager of Soboriz since January 2021, Patrick Barjonet leaves his position at the beginning of January to take the reins of Armement des Mascareignes. His successor, Xavier Bocquillet, arrives from the Urcoopa group, where he managed Nutrima, the aquaculture feed manufacturing plant, since December 2020.
There is no doubt that Xavier Bocquillet's international and diversified professional career in the agri-food industry was decisive in the Marbour group's choice to entrust him with the management of Soboriz from next January., where he will take over from Patrick Barjonet, who has been piloting it since January 2021. Xavier Bocquillet has managed Nutrima since December 2020, one of the Urcoopa group companies, specialized in the manufacture of aquaculture feed. Engineer graduated from the Higher School of International Agro-Development (THE SAME), he first acquired this international experience in Vietnam, where he practiced, for twelve years, an advisory and support activity for aquaculture businesses and small agricultural producers, before founding his own fruit processing company. He then joined Madagascar to manage the agriculture division of the SMTP group., then ensured the coordination of the four seafood sites of Madagascar Sea Food, an export-oriented activity, until his departure for Urcoopa in Reunion.
A historic company that is still dynamic
Joined Soboriz in 2011 as supply chain manager, Patrick Barjonet was a key player in all the stages which consolidated and amplified the position of the leader in rice production in Reunion until today. 2013 : the construction of exterior silos which, by increasing the storage capacity of raw rice, allows production to be developed. 2016 : the entry into service of the logistics warehouse which marks, here again, a step in the modernization of the activity. Soboriz markets a wide range of ready-to-heat rice and dried vegetables, under the Forban brand, whose awareness rate reaches 95% ! Patrick Barjonet succeeded Marc Gautheron in January 2021, and his four years at the management of Soboriz were also those of a strengthening of the measures that the historic rice producer of Reunion Island implements to guarantee rice and grains that comply 100% with food safety rules..
Innovation and ethics, ADN de Soboriz
Innovation has been another marker of recent years with the mixtures of basmati rice and fragrant rice Riz Sélection, which opened a new market segment. Riz Sélection largely contributes to the success of the company, whose growing turnover will reach 33 million euros in 2024. Witness, the amounts collected for the association fighting against breast cancer Run Odysséa (one euro donated for the purchase of a bag of rice during the month of October), increased from €15,000 in 2023 to €26,000 in 2024. Finally, the company, which today has 40 employees, contributed to cleaning up the market by continuing the fight initiated by Marc Gautheron against unfair competition from low-cost imported rice that does not comply with health regulations on pesticides or does not display the real composition of the products.
