Hungarian poultry processor eyes €2.9m investment

László Bárány, managing director of Master Good, told local news agency MTI that the ongoing investment, which has been 70% implemented, is scheduled to be finalised in June 2017. The HUF878m (€2.85m) project was carried out with the use of funds acquired from the Hungarian government, which allocated some HUF439m (€1.42m) to Master Good. The contribution represented 50% of the project’s total value.
 
The funds were provided to Master Good as part of the Hungarian cabinet’s special programme, under which the government aims to provide support to major Hungarian companies that do not have access to the EU funds.
 
New jobs​
 
The project allowed Master Good to create more than 100 new jobs at its facilities, and fit them with new machinery. The announcement was made following the visit of Hungarian minister for national economy Mihály Varga to the company’s facilities.
 
To date, the Hungarian meat industry player has processed about 100,000 tonnes (t) of poultry meat this year, according to data from Master Good. Currently, the company is operated by a workforce of some 1,900 employees at its facilities in Kisvárda and Petneháza. The latter plant was acquired by Master Good in 2004 after local meat processor Hajdú-Bét Kft. filed for insolvency, and the firm invested some HUF1bn (€3.23m) in modernising the facility.
 
Both plants are IFS-BRC and HACCP certified. The poultry processing plant in Kisvárda has the British Tesco Integra animal welfare certificate and the Tesco FMS certificate, and the plant in Petneháza was audited by Tesco PIU, according to data from Master Good.

Profits up​
 
The Hungarian company said its product range consisted of fillets, legs, wings, breasts, drumsticks, ready-to-eat meals made from chicken, turkey, duck and pork meat, as well as other processed poultry products. Master Good exports its products to a number of markets in the European Union and Asia.
 
Last year, the Hungarian firm posted revenues of about HUF45.4bn (€146.65m), and a net profit of more than HUF1.6bn (€51.68m). In addition to poultry processing, Master Good group comprises a number of companies active in other sectors of the agriculture industry, located in Hungary’s north-eastern region. The group was set up in 1994 and is owned by the Bárány family.
 
Petneháza and Kisvárda are located 272km and 284km respectively from the country’s capital Budapest.
 
Poultry meat remains the most popular type of meat in the Hungarian market, with an annual consumption of about 32kg per capita, preceding pork and beef meat, respectively, according to figures from local industry association Poultry Products Council (BTT).