The distribution of dairy products to schools as part of the "Bread roll and milk" programme and new product launches will double LaDorna dairy group's sales this year. sleadend
Jean Valvis, the group's chairman says LaDorna expects sales to go up from $11 million to $26 million.
The group is one of the top players on the dairy market in Romania.
LaDorna added butter (traditional and bio flavour) to its product portfolio comprised of milk, process and Swiss cheese this year.
LaDorna is one of the first Romanian companies to have begun making bio foodstuffs.
This category consists in products that come from pollution-free areas, do not contain chemical fertilisers, additives (E's), and are sold at a higher price.
This market is estimated to a little more than half a million dollars in Romania, but the potential is much bigger. Those to have entered this segment, have focused on the Western markets mainly, with the price as one of the top factors for this decision.
"This market segment will continue to grow and the consumers will allocate more and more money for healthy foods. The Carpathians are already bio, which means the biological agriculture has a very bright future here. If this potential is used properly, Romania may turn into the most important bio region in the whole Europe, " Valvis said. Bio foodstuffs do not account for too much in the total sales of the company for the time being, though.
"The potential is much more dynamic than we think in Romania. Furthermore, the Agriculture Ministry has enacted the entire legislative framework to certify control companies, so that Romania is an EU member in this regard," he added.
LaDorna has started exporting biological foodstuffs to supermarkets across Greece.
"We started the mineral water business back when consumption was very low. The milk consumption is much below the European average - 6 or 8 litres per capita a year, compared with 60 or 70 litres per capita, which also goes for organic products," Valvis said.
The Greek businessman is planning to also develop an IT business.
He established a new company within the Group, Carpathian System, which provides enterprise resource planning services (ERP).
This business started from a product developed to meet the company's needs, which Valvis thought he could "export".
"This company will transfer our entire integrated database expertise into a software application that is most beneficial and useful for anyone wishing to generate output, distribution and cash flow data at the same time," LaDorna's chairman said.
LaDorna Group is comprised of Dorna Lactate and Dorna Branzeturi, Dorna SA, LaDorna Cheese, LaDorna Agri and Narcisa Production.
Valvis has recently acquired 20% in the group from investment fund Societe Generale Romania Fund (SGRF) that bought into the Dorna business in 1998.
claudia.covaci@zf.ro
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