Italian-owned meat processor to invest €4.2m in Hungary

31-Oct-2017 - Last updated on 31-Oct-2017 at 09:41 GMT

Italian-owned pork and poultry meat processor Kometa 99 Zrt has announced plans to invest more than HUF 1.3 billion (€4.2 million) in its meat processing plant in Kaposvár, Hungary, with the aim of increasing production capacity.

The investment is expected to generate additional revenues of between HUF350m (€1.1m) and HUF400m (€1.3m) per year. In addition to this, Kometa 99 will be able to cut its spending on waste disposal by about HUF50m (€161,000) per year.

Investment to raise sales

Once the project in Kaposvár is completed, Kometa 99 will be able to turn some 6,800 tonnes (t) of by-product from its slaughterhouse into about 2,200t of meat and bone meal (MBM) and 1,100t of industrial grease per year, company representatives told local news agency MTI.

The investment will be financed by the company’s own funds, a bank loan, as well as additional funds obtained from the European Union.

The latest project is part of a string of investments carried out by Kometa 99 over the past few years. In the second half of 2015, the Hungary-based company completed a project estimated to be worth about HUF700m (€2.25m) to upgrade its meat processing plant.

Expansion drives higher revenues

The expansion allowed the Hungarian company to double its annual revenues in the past four years from HUF18bn (€57.9m) to HUF36bn (€115.8m). In 2016, Kometa 99 sold more than 57,000t of various meat and processed meat products.

The meat business specialises in processing various pork and poultry meat products. These include ham, roasted trotters, cold cuts, frankfurters, salami, ribs, bacon, and many others, according to company data.

While the domestic market remains its main source of revenue, with a share of about 61% of the total, the company generates the other 39% from export sales to more than 30 countries worldwide. These include various Western European markets, such as Italy, which is Kometa 99’s main export destination, Spain and Germany, as well as the Balkan States, Japan, South Korea, and numerous countries in Eastern Europe.

Among the firm’s product portfolio, meat from pre-cooled and deep-frozen pork (ham, loin, loin steak, boneless pork belly and collar) makes up the majority of its exports.

Kometa 99 said it was “one of the largest meat processing companies” in the Hungarian market, and it aimed to implement “the highest level of food safety along with the greatest consumer satisfaction through the integration of ISO 9001 and HAACP systems” into the meat processing process. The company has around 700 employees.

Kaposvár is located in the country’s south-western region, about 191km from Hungary’s capital, Budapest.