“Apetit Group’s net sales in the third quarter declined while profitability improved slightly year-on-year. In Oilseed Products, the exceptional and rapid increase in raw material prices has reduced the refining margin since the summer. In the Grain Trade segment, net sales declined substantially due to lower volumes caused by the poor harvest, with profitability being slightly lower than in the comparison period. In Food Solutions, profit performance has remained strong.
Retail demand in the Food Solutions segment was at a good level. The Food Service channel has also continued its recovery from the low level seen during the pandemic. The Baltic Sea fish stick, launched in Finnish schools and kindergartens on Baltic Sea Day, significantly increased the channel’s sales as a single product. In addition, exports to Sweden, in particular, have continued to grow. Increased prices in logistics, energy and packaging materials are creating pressure for increases in sales prices.
Preparatory work, such as planning and orders of equipment and components for the pizza production line in Pudasjärvi, has progressed on schedule. The investment covers the modernisation of the entire production equipment in the existing building. At the same time, we are moving forward with product development to renew our range of products: our aim is to provide consumers in Finland with even more delicious frozen pizza made using domestic ingredients to the greatest possible extent. The redesigned range of pizzas will be launched next year.
Enhancing the efficiency of production is a key aspect of our operations and the improvement of profitability. In Säkylä, we have invested in the processing of raw materials by upgrading the equipment used to wash vegetables. The new brush scrubbers significantly reduce water consumption. The investment is also significant from the perspective of raw material efficiency: the improved washing means that more of the vegetables are left to be processed for production.
We are upgrading how peas are received at the start of the production line by investing in cleaning and processing equipment to increase capacity. Peas need to go from field to freezer within two hours, which naturally limits the cultivation area to the surroundings of the production facility, but the process is also directly dependent on the capacity of the production function to process peas quickly. Peas are Apetit’s most significant export product, with Italy and Sweden being the key markets. The investment supports our potential to increase pea exports in the future.
The retail sales of our food products in Sweden have developed in line with our expectations. This autumn, we are launching on the Swedish market wok vegetables and a new vegetable mix. In addition to ICA, we have gained a foothold in other retail chains in Sweden this year. The value of food exports grew, amounting to EUR 4.4 (3.9) million in January–September in spite of pea exports being significantly lower than last year.
The indications are that the overall harvest of field vegetables will be moderate. The harvest of early vegetables, such as peas and spinach, suffered from the hot and dry summer.
In Oilseed Products, raw material prices have increased with exceptional speed – approximately 70 per cent in one year. The rate of price increases has been the highest since the summer. The profitability of Oilseed Products is decreased not only by the high raw material costs but also increasing freight costs. Raw material and freight costs are not expected to decrease in the near future, which weakens the outlook of the Oilseed Products segment for the remainder of the year.
The start-up of small-scale production of the rapeseed ingredient to test the equipment at a subcontractor’s premises began in September. The start of small-scale production makes higher volumes possible and also allows our customers to test the ingredient in their products. In addition to making deliveries to customers, we will continue our own testing of end uses for the ingredient and the potential expansion of the product family. The ingredient will also be used in Apetit’s vegetable balls to be launched for the professional kitchen segment at the beginning of 2022. At the same time, we are planning the start of production on the commercial scale.
According to our most recent harvest estimates, the rapeseed harvest will grow by just over a third. For autumn rapeseed, the area under cultivation increased compared to the previous harvest season, which can be considered good news: autumn oilseed plants yield higher harvests than spring oilseed plants and they are more resilient to pests. We are also pleased to have achieved our goal of increasing the number of contract growers and the area under contract cultivation.
For grains, the harvest in Finland will be weak and the harvest in the Baltic countries will also be substantially smaller than last year. There are even clear shortages of certain grains. Grain prices have increased sharply both in Finland and the global market, especially since the late summer.
The exceptional arrangements related to the COVID-19 pandemic have been discontinued in Apetit Group in accordance with the national recommendations. Throughout the pandemic, we have successfully achieved our goal of ensuring the health and safety of our employees and ensuring undisrupted operations throughout the food supply chain.”
Esa Mäki, CEO: “Apetit’s operating result in the third quarter improved from the comparison period. In Food Solutions, operating result grew clearly year-on-year and the result of Oilseed Products was at the same level as last year. One of the factors behind the improvement in Food Solutions was the normal seasonal fluctuation between quarters. The Group’s net sales increased slightly from the comparison period. In Food Solutions, net sales grew especially in retail trade. Also in the Food service sector, development continued to be strong. In Oilseed Products, net sales were on a par with the comparison period. Apetit Group’s operating result in January–September improved from the comparison year and both businesses are ahead of the result for the comparison period. We continue to maintain our profit guidance, according to which the Group’s operating profit is estimated to be at the same level as in the comparison period. In the strategically important ERP project, the production implementation for Food Solutions was carried out successfully as planned. The critical production and order-delivery system functions were successfully deployed at the turn of September and October. Important support systems also came into use at the same time. The ERP project will continue according to the planned schedule until the second half of 2025, proceeding to the production implementation phase in Oilseed Products. The bottling line at the Kantvik vegetable oil milling plant has become operational as planned. The line will be up and running at full capacity in late 2024. The first new Apetit Kotimainen Rapeseed Oil bottles have been produced on the line, and they will gradually be rolled out to retail stores during the rest of the year. The bottling line enables a production method that significantly reduces the amount of plastic as well as logistic load associated with empty bottles. From now on, our plastic use will decrease on average by 41 per cent, taking into account all three sizes of Apetit’s rapeseed oil plastic bottles. The bottles receive their final shape only when they are on the bottling line, which significantly reduces the space required at all stages of the logistics chain. In addition to the new shape, all bottles have a new look and feel and are now part of the Apetit Kotimainen product family. The commercialization of BlackGrain rapeseed powder is progressing. Over the past year, work with BlackGrain has focused on developing the production process and starting production on a commercial scale. In addition to developing the production process, we have, for example, invested in developing the product's various use cases, both internally at Apetit and together with customers. The harvest season for field vegetables has progressed well. For domestic frozen peas, the harvest season was successful as a whole. We processed more frozen peas than in previous years and the field-to-factory process ran smoothly. For root vegetables, the situation looks good – the long, warm autumn contributed to their growth. Harvest-time production has proceeded as planned. The success of the harvest season will be ultimately determined by the harvest conditions in late autumn and preservation of processability until freezing. According to the harvest estimate of the Natural Resources Institute Finland*, the domestic turnip rape and rapeseed harvest is expected to increase by more than 40 per cent from last year, to 58 thousand tonnes. If the estimate is realised, the harvest would reach its highest level since 2018. The direction is good, but we hope that the turnip rape and rapeseed cultivation area and harvest volumes will continue to increase. The current level is not enough to cover Apetit’s targeted annual quantity of domestic raw materials. The sustainable cultivation level of domestic oilseed plants is also important for the security of supply. In the autumn, we launched new products into retail stores. In addition to the new rapeseed oil packaging, we are introducing a new Kotimainen Wok Vegetables mix, spicy Falafel Harissa balls and a hot Nduja Pepperoni pizza. We are also renewing our frozen soup selection, introducing a tomato and lentil soup that is perfectly suited to the new nutritional recommendations. Product development and the continuous renewal of the product selection play an important role in commercial success, alongside classic products.” *Natural Resources Institute Finland, harvest estimate 16.9.2024
Esa Mäki, CEO: "The operating result for the first half of the year was better than that of the comparison period. Both businesses have improved their operating result. We continue to maintain our profit guidance, according to which the Group’s operating profit is estimated to be at the same level as in the comparison period. The outlook for the harvest season is currently fairly good, but the possible realisation of risks related to harvesting will only be seen during the autumn. Net sales in the first half of the year declined, mainly due to lower market prices for oilseed products than in the comparison period. Apetit’s operating result for the second quarter of the year declined from the comparison period. In Oilseed Products, operating result clearly decreased in the second quarter of the year from the strong profits in the comparison period. The result was weakened by the fluctuation in sales volumes between comparison periods. In Food Solutions, operating result was at the same level as last year. The Group’s net sales decreased from the comparison period in the second quarter. The decrease was mainly due to the fall in the market prices of oilseed plants compared to the comparison period, sales volumes also decreased. There were normal fluctuations between comparison periods in the decline in the sales volumes, and no significant change can be seen in this year's production and sales amounts. In Food Solutions, the net sales were almost on a par with the comparison period. Sales volumes decreased from the comparison period. The decline in volumes was impacted by export sales of frozen peas that occurred at different times during the comparison period. The work on the new bottling line for the Kantvik vegetable oil milling plant is progressing. The construction work related to the property is in the final phase and the installation of equipment has started. The investment of approximately EUR 4.5 million is expected to be completed according to the original schedule in the second half of the year. The harvest season of Finnish field vegetables has progressed largely as planned. The hot and dry spring posed challenges for the growth of spinach and the first-sown peas, but the harvest outlook is mostly within expectations. The harvest outlook for root vegetables is also good before the harvest season. For the current harvest season, we increased the frozen pea cultivation area to 1,800 hectares. Domestic frozen peas play a central role in our strategy. By increasing pea cultivation, we want to meet the growing demand for exports. The cultivation areas for Finnish turnip rape and rapeseed increased from last year. The beginning of the harvest season was strained by drought, which caused uneven seedling emergence and pest pressure. After Midsummer, the weather has been more favourable for oilseed plants, and we believe that the harvest outlook in Finland is average. Our goal is to further increase the use of Finnish turnip rape and rapeseed at our vegetable oil milling plant. Domestic origin is a significant differentiating factor in vegetable oils. Work on Finnish cultivation development has continued at both the Räpi experimental farm and the RypsiRapsi forum’s cultivation tests. The focus of the RypsiRapsi forum’s trial activities during the current harvest season is on variety tests carried out as strip and square tests. In April, a multi-year project co-funded by the European Union was launched with the aim of increasing the cultivation reliability and volume of turnip rape and rapeseed in Finland. The project is a concrete demonstration of the desire to increase the cultivation of Finnish oilseed plants. The Räpi experimental farm has focused particularly on further research into pea varieties. The aim of the experiments is to find varieties that can withstand Finland’s changing cultivation conditions. In recent years, we have seen even greater variations in conditions, from heavy rain to heat and drought. Increasing pressures from diseases and pests are also taken into account in the variety tests. At Räpi, variety tests are carried out on carrots and swedes, for example, with the aim of finding new varieties for use by contract growers. We will continue to work on the focus areas in line with the strategy. For the BlackGrain rapeseed powder, the work has focused on developing the production process on a commercial scale. The pea protein project has continued small-scale testing to produce pea protein from Finnish raw ingredients. With both projects, we are increasing the opportunities for raising the added value of Finnish raw ingredients. The important ERP project has progressed according to schedule. The first phase of production implementation is scheduled to take place in the second half of the year. Some of Apetit’s operations have already implemented the new ERP system at the end of last year. Food inflation has slowed and turned negative in June. There are still major differences between product categories, and no significant change in consumer behaviour has been observed. Affordability is still an important criterion in purchase decisions. Apetit’s product range is well suited to the current situation. In the summer, we brought new vegetable oils to the shops. The Salad Oil and Pizza and Pasta Oil from Apetit’s Neito product family are high-quality new products that are suitable for a wide range of cooking and seasoning. The launches of new products will continue this year."
Esa Mäki, CEO: “Apetit’s operating profit improved clearly from the comparison period, especially in Oilseed Products. In Food Solutions, operating profit also grew year-on-year. In Oilseed Products, international crush margins have remained at a good level. In Food Solutions, operational efficiency has had a positive impact on profit performance. As expected, the Group’s net sales decreased from the comparison period. The decline in net sales was due to the clearly lower market prices of oilseed products. In Food Solutions, net sales grew slightly from the comparison period and sales volumes were almost at the level of comparison year. In addition to high-quality daily operations that reflect on our profit development, we are making progress in our strategic focus areas. We are promoting the commercialisation of the BlackGrain rapeseed powder and continuing the project to produce Finnish pea protein. The pea protein project has started small-scale testing using Finnish peas as the raw material. Common factors in these projects are Apetit’s strong commitment to Finnish primary production and raw materials as well as the goal of increasing the degree of processing and developing added-value products. In the coming harvest season, we will significantly increase the area used for contract farming of field vegetables. Especially pea, potato and carrot cultivation areas will be increased. Our aim for the harvest season is to get more than 35 million kilos of Finnish vegetables from our contract growers’ fields. In recent years, we have invested in improving harvest-time production efficiency at the Säkylä frozen foods plant, for instance by modernising the frozen pea intake end. In the coming harvest season, we will also start using a new pea harvester. Experimentation at the Räpi farm will continue, with a particular focus on further research into pea varieties. Räpi will carry out variety tests with carrots, swedes and spring rapeseed in the coming harvest season. Domestic rapeseed cultivation area is expected to increase in the Finnish Cereal Committee VYR’s* 2024 cultivation area survey. According to the survey, the cultivation area of spring turnip rape is expected to grow by 38 per cent and that of spring rapeseed by 16 per cent. Growing the cultivation area and harvest levels of domestic oilseed plants is important to Apetit. We want to secure the supply of domestic raw materials and use as much domestic rapeseed as possible. We are therefore cooperating with the domestic oilseed plant sector to develop the industry through the RypsiRapsi-foorumi development group, established in 2023. The work on the new bottling line for the Kantvik vegetable oil milling plant has proceeded on schedule. According to the estimate, the new line is expected to be operational in the second half of 2024. With this approximately EUR 4.5 million investment, we take the supply chain into our own hands. For instance, the need for logistics will be significantly reduced with the new bottling line. The strategically important ERP project has progressed according to schedule. The first deployment phase at the end of last year was very successful. We are currently preparing production deployment. We have started a survey to set climate emission reduction targets for the entire Apetit value chain. In Apetit’s value chain, the main sources of emissions are primary production, packaging and logistics. As part of Apetit’s preparations for the requirements of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), we have conducted a double materiality analysis. Based on the results, we will improve management and reporting of our sustainability data. During the spring we launched new products in several different product groups. The new product launches included new Superior frozen pizza varieties, new cauliflower wings flavours as well as affordably priced salmon balls and a versatile tomato-based frozen vegetable mix, ideal for the current consumption circumstances. In the spring we will also launch new flavoured vegetable oils. Investments in product development and new product launches play an important role in strengthening Apetit’s market position even further.” *The Finnish Cereal Committee (VYR), Kylvöalakysely 2/2024