Canning industry in need of imports

According to László Cseh, chairman of the Hungarian Association of Refrigerating and Canned Food Industry, this year’s production of fruits and vegetables is not sufficient to meet the needs of the industry, though demand continues to shrink. Most of the processing enterprises refused to pay the high domestic prices and used imported fruits and vegetables instead. USD exports did not turn out to be very profitable either. Centrale Coopérative Agricole Bretonne and Union Fermiére Morbihannaise signed an agreement with the major shareholders of Globus about purchasing a majority share in the company, in 2006. The two Hungarian plants of Bonduelle, Bonduna Zöldségfeldolgozó Kft. and Bonduelle Nagykőrös Kft fused in 2004. As Sándor Szórádi, chairman of the Hungarian Association of Canning Industry has told us, their production is 30-40 per cent lower than usual this year. The reduced supply of fruits and vegetables has also effected smaller enterprises adversely. This is why imports from Serbia, Poland and Germany have become necessary. In his opinion, member companies will get rid of less profitable products this year. Remaining enterprises are expected to survive in the long run. Though the domestic consumption of canned food has been stagnating for years, consumer requirements are changing, with a growing number of price-sensitive consumers. Apart from this segment, where price is the main consideration, there also exists a very limited but also growing segment which wants premium quality and healthy products. Most canning enterprises intend to shift their export to EUR zone markets.