Endre Nagy, the chief executive of Pick Szeged, told local news agency MTI that the firm’s higher sales in both the domestic and foreign markets were enabled by the introduction of new processed meat products to its portfolio and investments in raising its meat processing capacity. In addition, the company benefited from lower prices of raw materials in Hungary, according to Nagy.
Higher sales
In 2015, the meat processor reported sales of about HUF74 billion (€239 million), an increase of 10% compared with a year earlier. Of these, about HUF55bn (€177.5m), or 74%, in revenues were generated from sales of processed meat products, and some HUF19bn (€61.5m), or 26%, from meat sales, the firm’s chief executive said.
Currently, about 40% of Pick Szeged’s revenues are generated by export sales to a total of 35 countries. Some of the company’s main foreign markets include the US, Canada, South Korea, Brazil, the EU’s member states, as well as Japan, where the company says it has a trade representation office.
New investments drive revenues
According to Nagy, Pick Szeged’s higher sales for last year were enabled by the expansion of the firm’s meat processing capacity in the Hungarian market. The company launched a new sausage production line at its meat processing facility in Alsómocsolád, in the country’s southern part, under an investment worth about HUF150m (€500,000).
The chief executive said the company would continue to invest in expanding its product range, with plans to spend between HUF200m (€650,000) and HUF300m (€1m) per year in this field
The firm’s product range consists of a wide range of pork meat products. These include salami, sausages, frankfurters, hams, cold cuts, pâtés and bacon. Pick Szeged said its flagship product was the Hungarian wintersalami (téliszalámi) with an annual output of about 3m sticks.
Pork remains the second most popular type of meat in Hungary, preceded only by poultry, with an annual consumption of some 28kg per capita. The country’s average annual consumption of poultry meat is about 32kg per capita, according to data from the Budapest-based industry association Poultry Products Council (BTT).
The Hungarian firm said its meat processing facilities produced about 40,000 tonnes of various products per year. Since 2009, Pick Szeged has been part of Hungary’s Bonafarm Group, the country’s largest food processing conglomerate. The meat processor’s facilities are ISO 9001, ISO 22000, BRC, HACCP and IFS certified, according to data from Pick Szeged.
The meat processor is headquartered in Szeged, in Hungary’s southern region, about 170km from the country’s capital Budapest. Pick Szeged, the history of which dates back to 1869, was nationalised by the Hungarian authorities in 1947, and privatised in 1992.