Agricola Bacau Group sees turnover go up by 10 percent in Q1

Agricola Bacau Group has reported a RON 104.85 million (approximately EUR 25.6 million) turnover for the first quarter of 2011, ten percent more against the same period of the previous year. The company’s poultry sales alone have gone up by 39 percent in volume and 48 percent in value.

“The significant rise we have registered in the first quarter for poultry can be explained by the fact that during the similar period 2010 our industry has faced its hardest times: the removal of subsidies, decreasing prices and rising stocks. The market had collapsed by about 18 percent in value and volume,” said Grigore Horoi (pictured), president of Agricola Bacau. He explained that at that time the company chose to focus on strategies to increase sales volumes as the market could not absorb any price hikes.

In addition to poultry production, the Agricola Bacau Group includes the Salbac, Europrod and Avicola Lumina Constanta companies. Salbac, which produces meat cooked and smoked products saw its sales go up by 23 percent (value). Europrod, the semi-prepared food products division reported a 32 percent increase of its sales while Avicola Lumina Constanta, sold 20 percent less eggs in the first quarter of 2010 against the same period of 2010. The reason for the decrease is the massive increase of imports which are unfair competition for local producers, the company argues, as the surge in the cost of raw materials continues to be a challenge for Romanian producers.

Agricola Bacau has a 14 percent market share on the poultry segment, it is market leader for semi-prepared and ready-meal products with a 19 percent market share and it has a 42 percent market share for Sibiu salami, according to company data.

Simona Bazavan