Western ingredients companies continue to make inroads into the massive Chinese food market with Danish company Chr Hansen cutting the ribbon yesterday on new facilities in Bejiing.
The dairy culture specialists, which last week lifted previous profit forecasts for the year by €4 million on the back of stronger ingredients growth and higher exchange rates, claim to have captured more than 40 per cent of the market for dairy cultures in China and expect continued growth, also within cultures for wine production.
A key aspect of the new facilities in Beijing is the Application and Technology Center (ATC).
"The new ATC will enable us to offer our customers and distributors an even better and faster service. Today, we have the equipment to work with dairy cultures and natural colours, and we are continuously expanding our facilities. The next item on our shopping list is a light cabinet for testing the durability of colours," said Grace Xu, general manager of the Beijing office.
"We have cut our first teeth, and we are now getting ready to take a larger bite of the market," added Erik Sorensen, CEO of Chr Hansen.
The product portfolio of Chr Hansen includes starter cultures and a range of natural colours and flavours for the food, dairy, animal health, human health and nutrition industries.
Last week the company raised profit forecasts for the fourth quarter of 2002/03, taking into account an organic growth rate of 6 per cent for ingredients that was higher than expected, leading to revenue of approximately DK3.35 billion in 2002/03.
Chr. Hansen's new Chinese office is located in Guanghua Road in the Chaoyang district, near Beijing's central business district.