After Poland’s EU accession, sales and income of
Polish food producers, jumped. This year, however, Polish food producers have to
struggle with price fluctuations. PKM Duda disappointed investors with its third
quarter results. The stock price dived 6.3 percent to PLN 7.4 (EUR 2). The net
income was nearly twice smaller than last year and it was despite much higher
sales.
“The recent months have been extremely difficult for our sector. Low
pork prices in the EU along with strong zloty made it unprofitable to export and
resulted in meat surplus in Poland”, Maciej Duda, PKM Duda CEO said.
He
added that the Russian embargo for Polish meat and closed Belarusian market make
the situation even more difficult.
“In this situation, we believe to be very
successful to have increased sales to record high”, Maciej Duda added.
Experts believe that tough situation on the market will continue.
Witold Choinski, CEO of Polskie Mieso association, said that EU could provide
meat producers with surcharges to exports. In his opinion, the situation of
Polish companies will largely depend on retailers who increased imports of cheap
meat from Western Europe. Duda management, however, believes next year’s results
will be better.
“In 2008, the pork surplus will disappear because many
farmers withdraw from breeding. Prices will grow, especially in the third and
fourth quarter”, Maciej Duda added.
He hopes that his company will then make
up for the present losses. It will be well prepared as it keeps investing in
breeding now. PKM Duda will also consolidate results of its Ukrainian
subsidiary. Within three years, the group will have over PLN 2bn of sales.
(PLN 1 = EUR 0.274)
Tough times for meat producers
Warsaw (Puls Biznesu) - Meat producer Duda's report shows that the sector is in trouble. Lower revenue against higher sales – this is the situation of the meat giant reflecting the situation of the whole sector. Low market prices for pork and strong zloty are to be blamed, Maciej Duda, the company’s CEO, explains. He promises better future performance, but not before the end of 2008.