Nordic meat and poultry company HKScan plans to invest in the group’s facility in Rakvere, Estonia.
The EUR 8 million (US$9.4 million) investment will go towards modernizing the unit’s frying department, including the expansion of the building and the installation of new cooking and packaging lines enabling implementation of new technologies and packaging solutions. Construction is to commence in May 2018.
“The market for fried products and minced-meat-based, ready-to-eat foods such as meatballs, nuggets and cutlets is growing fast. We want to further develop this attractive category and thereby secure HKScan’s competitive edge within this segment. Our upcoming investment in state-of-the-art technologies will allow us to launch innovative new products and packaging solutions. At the same time it will boost our productivity, increase our capacity, and allow us to expand our export volumes on neighbouring markets and even further away,” said Anne Mere, executive vice president of HKScan’s Baltic market.
Moreover, the investment will improve the group’s environmental performance as the new cooking lines will reduce the unit’s energy consumption by five percent. The facility’s carbon footprint will be further reduced by switching from electricity to gas.
“Estonia is an important market for HKScan. The investment in our Rakvere unit demonstrates our ambition to strengthen our market leadership in Estonia and across the Baltics, which requires constant improvement of our local farms and production facilities as well as modernization of our ways of working. We want to be the company serving consumers with responsibly produced, exciting product novelties,” said Jari Latvanen, CEO of HKScan.
