The purchase is designed to gain additional capacity to select and process natural casings for sausage and salami production.
DAT-Schaub revealed it saw potential in the Shanghai Natural Casing Company’s new factory, where the firm has handled natural casings for US company DCW Casing, in which DAT-Schaub also has a controlling interest.
The move is part of Danish Crown’s 4WD strategy to push for DAT-Schaub to become a global market leader.
DAT-Schaub CEO Jan Roelsgaard said China was the centre for selecting and processing casings in a labour-intensive industry similar to its own business.
“The country [China] is well positioned geographically because the raw materials come from Europe, the US and Australia,” said Roelsgaard. “There is a strong infrastructure to and from the Shanghai area, and the employees are meticulous and quality-conscious, which is essential in our business.
“It’s a well-managed company, but it’s still possible to enlarge the capacity, which is essential for handling the rising volumes of raw materials we’ve gained access to over the past year.”
DAT-Schaub is on track to become a global market force after acquiring majority stakes in five companies in South America and Spain over the past 12 months.
The company purchases and cleans sets of casings from pigs and sheep from abattoirs globally, which are then shipped to China or Portugal, where the subsidiary has factories to manage the further selection and processing of the casings.
The Danish Crown subsidiary insisted the acquisition of the Shanghai Natural Casing Company would not affect other companies owned by DAT-Schaub in the area.
In other news, this week, Danish Crown held a ceremony to celebrate the start of construction for its new factory in Pinghu, China, which is set to begin trading from next summer.