Polish meat business increases output capacity
"Currently, we are completing the investment at our Szczecin facility under which we opened a new hall fitted with the most modern poultry cooling line, a new cutting line, a cold storage facility, and a packaging and storage hall with specialist docking stations," Klaus Roppel, the president of Drobimex’s management board, told GlobalMeatNews. "Owing to this, we were able to increase [the facility’s] slaughter capacity from 130,000 head to 180,000 head per day, and this summer, we plan to increase this capacity to 200,000 head per day."
Roppel said that, together with the expansion of the company’s facility in Goleniów, the company is investing a total of €55 million to add more than 9,000 sq.m. of surface to the two facilities.
Drobimex sells its products through a number of major retail chains, including Carrefour, Auchan, Selgros, Real, Netto, Lidl, Piotr i Paweł, and Aldi. The company is also a major supplier of poultry parts to US fast food chain Kentucky Fried Chicken in the Polish market.
Barbecue meat products on the rise
To benefit from the increasing popularity of barbecue meat products on the Polish market, the company introduced five new barbecue products this year, such as poultry sausages. Drobimex currently offers 18 barbecue products in Poland, including nine fresh meat products and nine processed meat products.
"In this year’s barbecue season, which has just begun, Drobimex plans to increase its sales of such products by about 20%," Roppel said. "As recently as five years ago, we would sell about 100 tonnes of barbecue products. One year ago we sold 320 tonnes, and this year, we expect to sell between 350 and 400 tonnes in the April-September period."
Export sales grow
In addition to the domestic market, Drobimex exports its products to a number of foreign markets, including the European Union’s member states and other countries in Europe and Asia.
"Sales of our products are on the rise not only in the domestic market, as exports have risen to 40% of our total sales," according to Roppel. "Currently, Drobimex’s processed meat products are sold in, among others, Germany, Lithuania, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Azerbaijan, and Serbia. Our meat is mainly sold to Germany, the UK, Ireland, the Czech Republic, and Hong Kong."
Drobimex’s product range includes sausages, frankfurters, hams, pâtés and ready meals, according to data from the firm. Drobimex says its facilities are BRC- and QS-certified, and enabled to produce halal meat.
