Ireland’s ABP eyes Polish meat processor
The company’s local subsidiary ABP Poland filed a request to the Polish competition watchdog UOKiK, the approval of which is prerequisite to the acquisition.The amount of the planned deal was not disclosed by the Irish group.
Sklodowscy-Tykocin operates three facilities located in a plant in Tykocin, in Poland’s eastern region. These comprise a meat processing facility, a meat cutting plant, and a slaughterhouse with a capacity of 4,800 head per month. The Polish company said it exported its output to a number of countries, both in Europe and other continents, and its leading export destinations included Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Slovenia and Lithuania. In addition, Sklodowscy-Tykocin exports to 32 foreign markets outside the EU, according to data released by the firm.
ABP Poland is active in the country’s meat processing industry through its two plants located in Pniewy and Kłosowice, both in Poland’s western region of Wielkopolskie.
Sklodowscy-Tykocin said the firm’s product range consisted of half carcases, beef quarters, steaks, kebab meat, as well as other beef parts. Sklodowscy-Tykocin sells its output under a number of brands, which include Meat Land, Best of Sklodowscy and Kebbar. The company’s facilities are HACCP-, GHP- and GMP-certified.
Low beef consumption
Through the acquisition, ABP Poland aims to expand its stake in Poland’s beef meat industry, which is largely export-oriented. This was due to the fact that “Poles are more inclined to consume other kinds of meat, such as poultry and pork”, said local industry association Beef Lover’s Club QMP.
“Currently, Poland’s beef meat consumption is 1.5kg per person,” said Jerzy Wierzbicki, president of the Polish Association of Beef Cattle Breeders (PZPBM). “This is very little compared with the average EU consumption, which stands at about 15kg per person.”
On average, Poles consume about 85.4kg of meat per capita annually.
Beef exports on the rise
In 2015, Poland exported 437,000 tonnes (t) of beef meat, worth €1.3bn, an increase of 15% compared with a year earlier, according to figures from the state-run Agricultural Market Agency (ARR). Last year, the country’s beef imports totalled 139,000t, worth €127m, which was down 6% compared with 2014.
In January 2016, Sklodowscy-Tykocin took over its subsidiary Sklodowscy sp z o o, in a deal estimated to be worth more than PLN4.4m (€1m), according to a document released by Sklodowscy-Tykocin.
Sklodowscy-Tykocin is a member of the Polish Meat Association. The firm is a family business owned by Tomasz and Ewa Sklodowski.
ABP Food Group said it was one of Europe’s leading privately owned food processors, with farms in the UK, Ireland and Poland. The firm’s Poland-based subsidiary has been active in the Polish meat industry since 2002. In 2011, the UOKiK agreed to ABP Poland’s acquisition of the Pniewy-based meat processor Zakłlady Mięsne Salus.
