Baltic Export, China, Foodstuff, Good for Business, Investments, Latvia, Markets and Companies

"We've got big plans for China, but the market there is very difficult," Sergey Beskhmelnitsky, manager of Food Union for the Baltic countries, Russia and the CIS, said at a press luncheon in Tallinn on June 2nd.

"The market of China is immense. We are working intensely there to come up with a product range. In the near future the first dairy products from the Baltic countries too will be delivered to the Chinese market," he said. "We have our own team there, we've prepared a brand platform," he said.

Beskhmelnitsky said that two weeks ago the construction of two large dairy plants started in China for an investment of 200 million euros. "We wish to supply components from the Baltic countries there too," he said.

It takes 60 days to deliver a batch of goods from the Baltic countries to China, Beskhmelnitsky said. "The per capita consumption of dairy products keeps growing in China. The producer being European is always a sign of quality there," he added.

Aside from its core markets, Food Union at present sells its products on the markets of Israel, the United States, Spain and Germany. In the latter two products of Food Union are sold in migrant stores, he added.

The company exports ice cream also to Finland, Kazakhstan, and last year also to Azerbaijan and the Netherlands.

The Food Union plants in China are due to be completed in two years. Both will have a capacity to process 500 tons of milk daily with the possibility to increase it to 1,000 tons per day.

Beskhmelnitsky described the Baltic countries and Scandinavian countries, and Russia and Belarus of countries of the CIS, as the key markets for Food Union. 

The group has an ice cream production capacity of 60,000 tons and a dairy product production capacity of 50,000 tons a year. 

The Food Union group at present comprises eight companies, six of which are ice cream makers: Rigas Piena Kombinats, Rigas Piensaimnieks and Valmieras Piens in Latvia, Premia in Estonia, Ingman in Belarus, Premier Is in Denmark, Isbjorn Is in Norway, and Alpin57Lux in Romania.