Rakvere gets foot in the door in New Zealand

Photo: Elmo Riig / Sakala

Last spring, the Rakvere meat processing plant shipped a sample container to New Zealand that has now led to the first orders. The projected monthly sales volume is 100 tons.

„Based on the trade agreement between the European Union and New Zealand, we shipped a test container full of frozen pork to New Zealand in the spring of last year,“ said CEO of HKScan Estonia Anne Mere. Because the quality of the meat met local standards, regular orders have now been placed.

The Rakvere plant sells pork to meat wholesalers clients of which include local food processors and restaurants. „Their expectation is to get a product of sustainably high quality. New Zealand is famous for its high-quality mutton and beef, which is why it is high praise for Estonian pork to be approved by the country's strict quality control,“ Mere said.

She added that New Zealand constitutes an attractive export market for Estonia. While it takes two months to ship goods from Estonia to New Zealand, it is no more expensive than road transport to Southern Europe.

„We also have opposite seasons that gives us the chance to move different pieces of meat for which we have no demand at home either in the winter or summer,“ Mere said.

Rakvere's products form a part of HKScan Estonia's product line. The latter is Estonia's largest food industry company that is in turn owned by the HKScan group – a Nordic meat processing group that produces and markets processed meat and meat products of pork, beef, poultry, and mutton under various trademarks.

HKScan's clients are retail and catering companies, industries, and export sectors. The group's home markets include Finland, Sweden, Denmark, and the Baltic countries. The corporation exports its products to nearly 50 countries, its net turnover came to €1.9 billion in 2016, and it employs around 7,300 people.