Hochland craves for pressed cheese

The Romanian branch of German cheese producer Hochland logged sales worth 20.4 million euros last year, up 15% since 2001. The company has recently entered the Romanian pressed cheese market, estimated at more than $17 million. The company makes pressed cheese in its Sovata factory and sells it in 150g packs under the Hochland brand.
The company’s sales and marketing manager Sergiu Mititelu would not specify the exact amount invested in the launch of the new product, but said it was part of an investment that reached 1.6 million euros last year.
Mititelu says Hochland’s intentions are to gain as much of the market for the new product as possible and contribute to the development of this market, which, in his opinion, has a great deal of potential. “We decided to enter this market for two reasons: first of all, because it is a very large market, even larger than the processed cheese segment. Second, our second factory we bought in Sovata in 1999 is located in an area that has a long pressed cheese making tradition, so that we wanted to use this expertise and make the most of it,” Mititelu said.
He added the pressed cheese market accounted for over one quarter of the overall cheese market. Estimates show this market to have totalled approximately 30,000 tonnes in 2002, worth some 2,300bn ROL (some $70 million).
“The cheese market officially reaches 30,000 tonnes, but it probably amounts to more than 100,000 tonnes unofficially, due to individual consumption,” Mititelu said.
The Hochland official said the processed cheese market fell 6% last year.
“The processed cheese market is decreasing in volume, and the consumption remains low, partly because consumers favour other segments. I would not see it as a threat, though,” Mititelu added.
The company was already producing the Hochland processed cheese and the Almette fresh cheese. Hochland accounts for 87% of the processed cheese market, ACNielsen surveys show, and for 90% of the fresh cheese market through Almette. Its archrival on the processed cheese segment is LaDorna, followed by several imported brands, such as President and La Vache qui Rit. claudia.covaci@zf.ro