Apetit’s strategic focus area in internationalisation – growth in share of food exports
International food trade has already grown over the past few years, as its share in January-March 2018 had already equalled that of the full year in 2016. Apetit’s food products that attract the most international interest are added-value products, such as vegetable patties and balls as well as peas.
“Apetit has traditionally been an important operator in the international grain trade. Last year, international trade and exports made up about 64 per cent of the grain trade’s net sales, and we aim to further increase this with selected areas of supply, such as in the Baltic and the Ukraine. Apetit is also aiming to significantly increase the international share of trade in the area of food,” says Juha Vanhainen, CEO of Apetit.
The sale of frozen foods in the St Petersburg region, which was launched last year, will continue as Apetit will supply its products to Lenta stores in Russia. Lenta is one of Russia’s largest retail store chains.
“We are currently piloting the sale of Apetit frozen foods with Lenta in selected stores throughout Russia. We will decide on the final selection during the summer. There is a growing number of consumers in Russia who want to eat more healthily and increase their vegetable consumption,” says Vanhainen.
Vegetables hugely popular in the Nordics
Apetit is also working on several new projects in the Nordic countries, where there is considerable and growing interest in vegetarian foods. In the Nordic countries, demand is focused especially on vegetable patties and balls but also on more traditional frozen foods.
“The vegetable trend is particularly big in Sweden, which naturally boosts demand for various vegetarian alternatives. At the moment, consumers are most interested in ‘free-from’ products. The frozen food culture is more established in Sweden than in Finland and Swedes use frozen foods much more than Finns,” says Vanhainen describing the Nordic market.
Finnish food has a good international reputation, but Finnishness is not a big enough selling point on its own.
“Finnish food is unpolluted and safe, but ultimately, the product’s added-value factors – flavour, appearance, mouthfeel and attractiveness of the package – are decisive. To make Finnish products interesting to international consumers, we must respond to local demand by offering modern products created for the market.”
Finnish peas in demand in Italy, Sweden and Asia
Apetit’s biggest export product by volume is currently the Finnish pea. Peas are exported to Italy, Sweden and Greece, and in Asia to China and Taiwan. The export of peas has recently increased dramatically.
“Differences between pea varieties are important factors for consumers outside Finland. In Sweden and Italy, consumers prefer small, sweet peas, which is similar to new potatoes in Finland. Consumers in Asia eat larger and harder peas,” says Vanhainen.
In the coming harvest season, Apetit will contract-grow about 4 million kilos of peas in Finland. According to Vanhainen, selecting the right varieties will make it possible to multiply the international sale of peas in the future, for example to Italy.
“Apetit’s high-quality peas are popular in other countries because of their very consistent quality. As the peas are harvested and frozen very quickly they retain the flavour of freshly-picked peas. Finland’s light growing season produces peas that are very sweet and green,” says Vanhainen.
Apetit Plc
For more information, please contact:
Juha Vanhainen, CEO, Apetit Plc, tel. +358 10 402 00
Sanna Väisänen, Director, Communications and Investor Relations, Apetit Plc, tel. +358 10 402 4041
Apetit is number one in vegetables. It is a food industry company firmly rooted in Finnish primary production. We create well-being with vegetables by offering healthy and tasty food solutions that make daily life easier. We also produce high-quality vegetable oils and rapeseed expellers for feeding stuff, and trade grain on the international markets. Apetit seeks to lead the way in vegetable-based food solutions. Apetit Plc’s shares are listed on Nasdaq Helsinki. In 2017, the company’s net sales were EUR 312 million and it had approximately 640 employees. Read more at apetitgroup.fi.
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CEO’s review Q4/2023
Esa Mäki, CEO: “Operating profit from Apetit’s continuing operations clearly improved year-on-year. In Oilseed Products, profit improvement was significant and raw material sourcing was successful throughout the year. International crush margins were at an exceptionally elevated level during the entire calendar year. In Food Solutions, the sales developed favourably. The impact of inflation, which has weakened profit development, was successfully moderated. Throughout the year, price increases were made in Food Solutions. Long-term work in product development and product portfolio management had positive impacts on Apetit’s result. The Group’s full-year net sales decreased from the comparison year due to the fact that market prices decreased in oilseed products. In Food Solutions, net sales increased year-on-year in all sales channels. Sales volumes grew in the Food service sector and exports and remained at the comparison year’s level in retail trade and industrial sales. We took significant strategic steps in 2023. In October, we announced an approximately EUR 4.5 million investment in a new bottling line to be built at the Kantvik vegetable oil milling plant. It is our goal, that the new line will become operational during the second half of 2024. The investment follows Apetit’s strategy of speeding up growth. It enables us to take the vegetable oil supply chain more firmly into our own hands and develop products with a higher degree of processing. The ongoing ERP project has progressed according to the planned schedule. The first implementation phase of the project between November and December was successful. A large and important project demands a lot from the personnel. Strategically significant ERP system is carried out in project groups that cross the group's organizational boundaries. We established sales organisation in Sweden to boost food exports. Apetit’s foothold in Sweden has strengthened as our products have expanded into new retailer groups. The share of food exports in net sales increased in 2023. Net sales from exports to Sweden increased slightly year-on-year. The commercialisation of the rapeseed protein ingredient BlackGrain progresses. In 2023, we took important steps in production process development towards starting commercial scale production. We will tell more about our long-term plans on BlackGrain in the second half of 2024. We also launched a project to produce Finnish pea protein. The pea is one of the most used plant proteins worldwide, but thus far there has been no pea protein production in Finland. Apetit’s expertise in plant-based raw materials and strong cooperation with Finnish primary production lay a solid foundation for the project. “More domestic plant proteins” is one of Apetit’s strategic focus areas. Apetit was the driving force in the establishment of the new domestic oilseed plant production development group, RypsiRapsi-foorumi. Domestic rapeseed harvest has been worryingly low in recent years. With the forum we want to produce practical information and efficient rapeseed cultivation methods. The goal is to promote the cultivation of domestic rapeseed and its profitability. We have reduced CO2 emissions caused by our use of energy by 68 per cent compared to 2019. Apetit’s production facilities have gone through a major energy transition in recent years and 74 per cent of the energy we used in 2023 was from renewable sources. The Säkylä frozen foods plant’s new energy solution that is based on heat recovery and enables the use of biogas was deployed in summer 2023. Strong cost inflation influenced the past operating year and consumer purchasing behaviour. Affordable price plays an increasingly important role in purchasing decisions. Apetit’s product range is an excellent match to consumer demand. In addition to the price, important factors influencing purchase decisions are long-term trends, such as healthiness and sustainability. In early 2023, we conducted a survey on Finnish consumers’ perceptions concerning frozen vegetables. Approximately one in three Finns say that they buy frozen vegetables almost every time they go grocery shopping and about nine out of ten consider frozen vegetables to be excellent help in making everyday life easier and increasing the use of vegetables. Approximately 85 per cent of Finns consider frozen vegetables to be a sustainable choice. Apetit focuses on domestic and plant-based raw materials as well as products that promote well-being and sustainable consumption. We continue our efforts to seek growth from diverse plant-based food solutions and added-value products. The past year indicates that Apetit is on the right track. I would like to warmly thank all Apetit employees and for their cooperation the owners, customers, contract growers and other partners for the year 2023.”
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CEO’s Review H1/2023
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