Warsaw (Puls Biznesu) – Poland plays important role in the new strategy of Heinz, the U.S. listed food producer.
HJ Heinz, one of the world’s biggest food producers, has presented its strategy for the years 2007 and 2008. On the one hand, the company wants to cut costs by selling some dozen plants (none of them in Poland). On the other hand, the company plans investment in key segments including ketchup, sauces, ready-to-eat dishes and snacks. In 2007 Heinz wants to introduce over 100 new products and increase sales by 3-4 percent. In 2005, the company had nearly USD 9 billion of sales.
Next to six most important western markets, the company will also focus on five emerging markets, including Poland, Russia, China, India and Indonesia.
“These fast growing markets provide for over 40 percent of the world’s population. Heinz expects to generate one fourth of its global sales growth in the financial year 2007 on these five markets whose forecast sales growth exceeds 10 percent”, Heinz management said in a communiqué.
Heinz has two plants in Poland: Pudliszki and Miedzychod. According to the management forecasts, they will be developed.
“We will focus on Pudliszki brank first of all. We are going to develop our products and introduce new ones, focusing on key categories like sauces (ketchups, mustards, etc.) and ready-to-eat dishes”, Patycja Hatalska representing HJ Heinz Polska said.
In the fiscal year ended April 2006, the company had PLN 274.5m (EUR 67.8m) of sales or 11 percent more than a year earlier. Pudliszki is the leader on the ketchup market (20 percent market share), tomato concentrates (36 percent) and ready-to-eat dishes (Pudliszki and Miedzychod have 27.3 percent). Its biggest rivals include Unilever, Agros Nova, Bonduelle and Pamapol.
(PLN 1 = EUR 0.247)