The new leader of an agricultural products company in north-central Iowa is very aware of the impact the Trump administration’s latest round of international tariffs may have on his business’ bottom line.
Tom Mangan is president and CEO of Sukup Manufacturing Company, based in Sheffield, which is known for its corrugated metal grain bins.
“Priorities change, sometimes on a day-to-day basis, depending on what’s going on in the world,” Mangan says. “We’ve got a lot of conversation about tariffs. That does have some impact on us, because we’ve got some great customers and dealers in Canada. Also we’ve got a European subsidiary that we get product out to. And then Mexico and Central America is also a big market for us, so a lot of tariff concerns.”
Mangan says most of the company’s products are built with American-made components, including all U.S. steel. He says Sukup is growing and now employs more than 800 people.
“We put up a new big building here in Sheffield. Over the past five years, we’ve grown to double the size of our Manly operation, into Clear Lake, into Hampton. We acquired two companies just in the past 15 months in Ramco Innovations in West Des Moines, and then also, just within the past few weeks, the manufacturer of our bin stairs, Greene, down in Illinois.”
Mangan is the first non-Sukup family member to run the company since it was founded in 1963.
(By Brian Fancher, KLMJ, Hampton)