Information for fruit and vegetables business in CIS
A large German firm is entering the Ukrainian market of canned fruits and vegetables, so canneries are too crowded in Zakarpattya
The canneries in Zakarpattya are emerging as mushrooms after the rain. According to the information provided by the regional office of Agricultural Marketing Project (AMP), this year a new huge market player plans to enter this market. In the beginning of the season, in the village Perekhrestye, Vinogradiv rayon, the enterprise "Mikaland" will start to process vegetables and mushrooms. The plant was created jointly by German, American and Ukrainian investors.
Among the company founders there is one of the hugest producers of the canned vegetable, fruit and mushroom commodities - the German company I. Schmidt Handelsgesellschaft mbH., well known in Russia and Ukraine under the trademark "Mikado". This company owns the canneries in such countries as Hungary, Italy, Spain, China, Thailand and Greece. The co-founder is the American BMG company.
As Yudita Petei, the Director of the new enterprise, says, the projected capacity of the plant is about 12 mln. of standard cans, nearly 120 persons will be employed throughout the year, in the season of mass processing the quantity of workers will reach 200 persons. The traditional for this region tomatoes and cucumbers will be the main raw materials for processing on the new enterprise. The cannery management puts much hope for mushroom processing; Zakarpattya farmers are planned to be taught the mushroom production technology.
The produce of the cannery will be sold under the trademarks "Mikado" and "Sanland". The major volumes of the produced commodities will be sold in Russia and Ukraine, according to the management's statement. The supplies of the canned fruits and vegetables to Europe are also possible.
At present moment the quantity of fruit and vegetable processing plants in Zakarpattya is the greatest comparing to the other oblasts of Ukraine; they are regularly facing the problems of raw materials purchase. Past year the severe cucumber deficit nearly led some regional processors to bankruptcy. In 2005 the enterprises continued increasing the capacity; the demand on the main raw material - cucumber - may increase twice in this region, according to the AMP expert's evaluation. Despite of such rapid demand growth, the cucumber production in Zakarpattya oblast can increase on not more than 35-45%.
Despite of this fact, Yudita Petei is sure that the entrance of a new enterprise on Ukrainian market will be successful; she says that the company has already managed to sign contracts on raw material supply in quantity enough to fulfill the plans 2005 of fruit and vegetable processing.
No doubt, the entrance of such a huge market player to the Ukrainian market will have a favorable impact of the development of fruit and vegetable market of the country, where the competition level and respectively the quality and assortment of the produced commodities are growing constantly. This way the additional opportunities for farmers will be created in the area of fruit and vegetable production and sales; plus, the position of the Ukrainian producers of the canned fruit and vegetable commodities will be more stable on the markets of the neighboring countries.