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Greek yogurt factory open later in Hoogeveen
The completion of the Hoogeveen factory of yoghurt manufacturer Fage has been delayed by another year. The company reports this in its recently presented annual report for 2022. That might be good for the power supply in Riegmeer.
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The arrival of the factory in Hoogeveen also means that milk is needed. Fage has not yet said anything about this, but the company must purchase the raw material for its product, via the dairy trade or from farmers themselves.
According to the latest messages The factory is now expected to be completed in the first half of 2026. Initially, the factory was expected to start operating in the middle of next year, but this was later delayed by a year. So now there are even more delays. According to the annual report, this would be partly due to a change of contractors and also changes in the planned installations.
The delay may also prevent further problems with connecting the factory to a series of utilities on the Riegmeer industrial estate. There would in particular the connection to an essential high-voltage line cannot be ready before 2026.
Fage still plans to build a factory with a capacity of 40.000 tons of Greek yogurt per year. And despite delays and other events, Fage has already allocated an amount of €13,6 million for this, of which just over €2 million is now a hard commitment. With a total investment of €150 million, this is still a limited amount, but the annual report makes it clear that the company is investing more and more resources in the construction of the factory.
Trouble with private label
The Greek family business notes in the annual report that branded Greek yogurt, such as that of Fage, is experiencing increasing competition from private label products in retail. This is because the consumer has less to spend and therefore opts for a cheaper product. Nevertheless, the company retains confidence in the market in the longer term.
Over the past year, the company recorded a turnover of more than $552 million, compared to almost $536 million in 2021. Due to sharply increased raw material costs (especially milk) and pressure on sales of branded products, gross profit fell from $191 million to almost $172 million. Net profit, on the other hand, rose from €15,8 million to $29,3 million.