Canned meat producer Scandia Romana, which invested 30 million euros in a new canned food and cold cuts plant in Sibiu, expects to derive 30 million euro sales from cold cuts alone by 2011. The new factory, built on 20,000 square metres and whose total annual production capacity stands at 36,000 tonnes, will become operational next year.
"We will not operate at peak capacity in the first year of business, but we hope to work at an at least 60% capacity," said Adrian Gaspar, general manager Scandia. The company currently has 850 employees and does not plan to hire more for the new factory.
The production capacity of the new canned foods facility will stand at 22,000 tonnes a year, 1,000 tonnes more than the current factory. The general manager says it will also make more than 20 tonnes of cold cuts a day. Gaspar estimates that the premium segment of the canned meat products will see one of the highest increases in the near future.
"We estimate more premium products will be bought this year. We expect an up to 3% growth for the sales of canned meat on this segment," Scandia's general manager said.
He added that the profitability margin of the premium segment of canned meat products was a two-digit figure, but failed to mention the exact level, compared with a one-digit profit margin for the products below this segment.
The same single-digit profitability margin is expected for the cold cuts category where the producer will have a bigger presence from next year. "We have yet to define the range of cold cuts, but we are trying to launch a traditional line, which will almost certainly not be positioned among the basic products," he added.As for canned meat prices, Gaspar said they will go up by at least 15% on store shelves at the beginning of next year, due to the increase in the price of raw materials by at least 50% and in packaging
