Concern “Food Union“It is planned to start with” Kārums “cottage cheese cheeses in the Chinese market, producing them locally, but using cottage cheese imported from Latvia, Normunds Staņēvičs, Chairman of the Board of JSC” Rīgas piena kombināts “, part of the concern” Food Union “, informed
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He said that the group’s goal is to continue the strategy launched last year with the goal of “investing and earning in China”.
The next step is to build our own processing capacity in China.
“We plan to set up factories where” Kārums “brand cheese cheeses will be produced. We will transport cottage cheese from Latvia to China, but everything else – cheese making, shaping, glazing, will take place on site in the Chinese factory,” Stanevics said.
He also said that the company will start in China under the “Limbažu piens” brand, which means “big white house”.
“It’s a good name that indicates quality to some extent. There is a paranoid fear of local products in China, so there is a great demand for safe, healthy and clean food from Europe,” Stanevich said.
He also acknowledged that although overall purchasing power in China is currently low, it is outweighed by the large population. In addition, there is a great deal of respect for children and the elderly in China, so these age groups are offered the best of all, regardless of price.
Ten Food Union employees currently work in China, and Andrejs Beshmelņickis, the company’s largest shareholder, is leading the development of the brand in the market.
“He currently lives in Hong Kong and is leading the process by developing the Food Union business in China,” Stanevich said.
Food Union launched in the Chinese market last year, exporting ice cream, as well as opening “Excellence” and “Nu Smoothie” pop-up outlets in cooperation with Bright Food Group and Shanghai Municipal Authorities. This year, the company continues to enter the Chinese market with ice cream, UHT brand milk and other products.
Food Union’s efforts in China are supported by the company’s partner Bright Food Group. Intergovernmental relations were also important, as was the work of the Latvian and Chinese embassies, the Ministry of Agriculture and Latvian Investment and Development Agency, notes Stanevics.
The financial consulting company Prudentia and Nasdaq Riga organized an informal discussion on Tuesday to discuss the prospects of the dairy industry and the competitiveness of companies in world markets.
It has already been reported that throughout the European Union, including Latvia, there is an overproduction of milk, which has occurred after the abolition of the quota system and the imposition of the Russian embargo. In Latvia, the purchase price decreased by 31% and is on average 0.2196 euros per kilogram of milk, which is the lowest indicator in the European Union.
Raw milk prices are also negatively affected by the inability of processors to sell their products profitably and, consequently, to pay more for raw milk. According to the Competition Council (CP), exports play an important role in the sector – in 2014, 24% of the raw milk produced was exported. As the structure of exports is dominated by low-processed dairy products, the CP points to the need for dairy processors to specialize more in the production of niche and higher value-added products, as well as to acquire new export markets more intensively.
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