Sorin Minea, the general manager of charcuterie producer Angst, one of the top five players domestically, says he will finalise the construction of a plant in Buftea by yearend that makes salads and ready-to-cook meat products, with a view to securing the company's presence on niche markets, which continue to generate growth for the business.
"Investments in the food factory will amount to 1-1.5 million euros including equipment. Investments will not be very high to begin with, as this is merely the first stage," added Sorin Minea.
From the very beginning, Angst has been successful in securing positions on niche markets, being one of the main suppliers of charcuterie for hotel and restaurant networks.
Overall, in the first quarter of this year, the company only invested 1.5m euros in its production centres in Buftea and Sinaia and in the expansion of its store network.
"The diversification of the number of stores and the expansion of our network, in and outside Bucharest, is one of our main investment priorities this year," says Minea. He added that investments per store would range between 1m and 2m euros.
Minea says his decision to further develop Angst's own store chain, despite the strong expansion of retailers, is due to the fact that in European countries, the food industry develops more easily through proximity stores.
Even though the domestic market witnessed a considerable decline in consumption in the first few months of the year, Angst's turnover increased by 16%, to 14m euros, while the company's net income increased 20%.
"A new market segment could not emerge, consumption did not rise in Romania, I believe, the black market leads to a decline in official consumption, which means that the niche markets we focused on are working better than other market segments," stated the Angst representative.
According to Minea, all the major players in the domain have received offers; as the meat industry remains one of the few markets where the presence of multinational companies is still low. "(...) For the time being we are not interested in exiting the market. I do not think it is a good time and I do not think it would be to our benefit," said Minea.
Last year, Angst generated a turnover of 50m euros and expects its turnover to exceed 60m euros this year.
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