Romanian Meat Processor Eyes Higher Exports to EU
ROMANIA - Romanian pork meat processor Kosarom SA is aiming to expand its export sales to the EU to 20 per cent of the company’s total sales to compensate for the relatively low purchasing power of Romanians, according to senior company representatives.“It is a tough time [for Romanian meat producers], because the purchasing power in Romania is lower compared to other countries, but we are lucky that we also export our products to Germany, the UK, the Netherlands, Spain and Italy. Exports are on the rise,” Neculai Apostol, the company’s founder, told local business daily Ziarul Financiar.
In addition to these Western European markets, Kosarom also exports its products to Ireland, France, Portugal, Greece and Cyprus.
Kosarom is part of a meat processing and agricultural group which is controlled by the Apostol family, and which is currently operated by a workforce of over 1,100 employees, according to data from the meat processor. Last year, the group posted revenues of some €50 million. The largest share of the revenues was posted by Kosarom which reported sales of some RON 127 million (€29 million).
Currently, the company exports at least 15 per cent of its output.
The meat processor says its product range includes salamis, sausages, frankfurters, ribs, meat rolls and other processed pork meat products.
Kosarom owns a meat processing facility in Paşcani, in the country’s north-eastern part. The facility is enabled with a slaughtering capacity of 800 head per day, and a processing capacity of some 50 tonnes of pork meat per day. The plant is ISO 9001, 14001 and 22000 certified, according to data from the Romanian company. The company was created in 1992 through the privatisation of a state-owned meat processing firm.
Pașcani is located less than 370 km from Romania’s capital Bucharest.