"The baby food market will reach around 52 million euros at the end of this year, up 22.6% compared with the 43 million euros derived in 2007, when it registered a 28% increase on the previous year," said Dana Nacheva, marketing manager of Milupa Romania, which is part of the Danone Baby Nutrition division.
The top-seven local baby food producers - Milupa Romania (with the Babelac and Milupa brands), Nestle (Nestle, Lactogen, Nan and Beba), Humana (Humana), Hipp (Hipp), Abbot (Similac), Remetea (Lactovit and Re Milk) and Ulker (Hero Baby), hold 90% of a market worth over 40 million euros.
The baby food market consists of three major segments: powdered milk, cereals, and baby food (puree and juices).
According to information on Danone's website, in 2007 powdered milk sales in Eastern Europe amounted to 503 million euros, up 27% against the preceding year, while overall sales of baby cereal amounted to 347 million euros, up 21%, and baby food sales totalled 250 million euros, up 33% against 2006.
In Eastern Europe, the baby food market is less developed than the Western Europe market. In Western Europe, baby food consumption per capita for children aged between 0 and 3 years ranges between 215 kg per year in France, and 113 kg in the Czech Republic, while in Eastern Europe, Poland has the highest consumption level, with 94 kg a year per capita. Romania counts among the countries with the lowest consumption of baby food, with just 14 kg per capita, according to information on Danone's website.
However, the baby food market in Eastern Europe, which was worth 1.1 billion euros at the end of last year, has been, for the past few years, the growth driver for Dutch-based Numico, the European leader on this segment, after the producer saw a 22% increase in 2006 on the previous year. The average growth rate of the Dutch group in the 2005-2007 period in Eastern Europe stood at 28%.
In July 2007, French group Danone took over the Dutch baby food producer Royal Numico, in a deal worth 12.3 billion euros. Since April 2008, Danone gave up the Numico name, and created two separate divisions: Danone Baby Nutrition, which includes all the baby food producers of the group worldwide, and Danone Medical Research. Milupa Romania, the local subsidiary of the Numico group, continues to be an entity financially separate from Danone Romania.
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