Today (Thursday 20 October) the French fries company Aviko officially opened its new French fries factory in Poperinge, Belgium. According to Aviko, the new production location, an investment of more than €200 million, is known as the most modern French fries factory in Europe. At maximum capacity, the company, part of the cooperative food group Cosun, can produce a maximum of 3.500 tons of chips and approximately 22 tons of flakes.
The opening will be widely announced today in Belgian media. Aviko had been testing at the new production location for some time, so that there is a gradual production of fries on the market. According to the official data at the announcement from the construction of the factory in 2019, an annual capacity of 175.000 tons of frozen fries and 11.000 tons of potato flakes. The French fries factory in Poperinge is extensively automated and robotized in all business processes, which means that only 190 employees are active at the production location.
Approximately 350.000 tons of potatoes are processed every year in Poperinge, near the border with France. This means that the production location is certainly not the largest in terms of capacity. For example, Aviko's location in Steenderen can process 250.000 more tons of potatoes per year. The factory in Poperinge is designed in such a way that it can easily be expanded with multiple production lines. Aviko sources its chip potatoes in West Flanders, but especially in France, where the acquisition of acreage has been expanded in recent years. The question is whether the chip group can ensure sufficient raw materials through contracting this year. Both Belgium as France reports a significantly lower potato harvest compared to last year.
With the construction of the production location in Poperinge, Aviko wants to respond to the growing global market for frozen fries. This grows by an average of 4% annually. The vast majority of production from Poperinge is sold outside the Benelux: to Central and Eastern Europe or even to Asian destinations such as China and India.