Contec Foods expands its portfolio and raises exports to battle the crisis

This is an optimistic forecast, considering that the canned vegetable and fruit market registered a 20 percent drop in the first half of this year, according to company officials, who announced the producer’s entrance onto new market segments.

“For 2009, we estimate net sales worth €18.3 million, in spite of the fact that the canned vegetable and fruit market declined 20 percent in H1, due to a drop in consumption,” according to a statement for Business Standard by Bogdan Bira, National Sales Manager of Marathon Distribution Group, which includes Contec Foods.

Regarding sales registered in H1, company officials talk about a decline compared to the corresponding period in 2008, but are optimistic for H2, forecasting a 10-15 percent increase. Moreover, Contec Foods plans to rank among top five producers on each of the segments the company is operating on.

“We want to develop the product range for the HoReCa [hotels, restaurants, catering] segment. In addition to products already existing in this range, such as jams (apricot, sour cherry, strawberry, raspberry, rose) and honey, packaged in 20g jars, there are products in the process of being launched on the market. For the future, we are preparing the launch of other products destined for this segment, such as mustard, ketchup, and mayonnaise, packaged in single serve sachets of 10 to 20 milliliters,” Bira added.

The Contec Foods portfolio includes private labels, such as Aro for Metro, Winny for Cora, and Tip for Real, as well as own brands, namely Winmark, Daria, Picnic, Olympia, the brand with the highest growth this year, according to officials.

Contec Foods will invest €3 mln in expanding and modernizing current production lines, and in developing new ones. Moreover, the company intends to expand exports, which presently make up four percent of net sales.

Main players on the canned vegetable and fruit market, whose value is estimated at €70 mln, are Contec Tecuci, Leader Caracal, Conserv Buftea, and Klevek Fetesti.