Agrana to Invest €27.6m to Expand Russian Fruit Preparation Plant
Austrian group Agrana is to invest Eur27.6m to expand its Russian fruit preparation plant at Serpuchov over the next five years. Agrana is one of the leading producers of fruit juice concentrates in Europe, and the top global manufacturer of fruit preparations for the dairy industry.
The expansion programme will boost the factory’s production capacity by 63% from around 38,000 tonnes to 62,000 tonnes per year when the project has been completed, allowing Agrana to capitalise on the potential of the growing market for fruit preparations in Russia and the CIS states.
Agrana began operations at the Serpuchov site with two production lines in May 2005 and has tripled its volume of sales since then in the course of two earlier expansion phases. With 238 personnel and annual revenues of around Eur55m, this subsidiary currently has a 48% share of the regional fruit preparations market, which, in addition to Russia, also includes several other CIS states and a total of approximately 217 million consumers.
Fruit preparations are used primarily in the dairy products industry in the production of fruit yoghurts but also for cakes and pastries as well as ice cream. With a current estimated pro-capita consumption level of around 3.5 kg per year, the CIS yoghurt market offers considerable growth potential compared, for example, with Poland, where this figure is approx. 8.5 kg, or Western Europe, where consumption amounts to around 16.5 kg of yoghurt per year.
“Fruit yoghurts are becoming increasingly popular in Russia and the neighbouring states as prosperity and health consciousness are rising. This expansion phase in Serpuchov is key to our being able to profit from the forecast growth of around 50% in demand for fruit preparations from a current level of 82,000 tonnes to 124,000 tonnes per annum by 2014/15, and to consolidate our excellent market position as the quality, service and innovation leader,” says Johann Marihart, chief executive of Agrana Beteiligungs.
In addition to fruit preparations and fruit juice concentrate, Agrana is also a leading sugar company in Central and Eastern Europe. It is the leading supplier of specialised starch products in Europe, as well as being the largest producer of bioethanol in Austria and Hungary. In its 2009/10 business year, Agrana recorded revenues of approximately Eur2b. Agrana employs around 8,000 personnel at 52 facilities in 25 countries around the world.
