To expand its product portfolio and customer base throughout Russia and Kazakhstan, Zeelandia has joined forces with importer East West Services. Thanks to local production and R&D facilities, the company said that Zeelandia Ost-West can serve a wider range of customers with a wider range of products, including tailor-made products for the Russian market.
One of the key goals of the joint venture is to expand Zeelandia’s Russian product portfolio. Over the past ten years, Zeelandia said that it has steadily expanded its market share in Russia, working with importer East West Services and focusing on confectionery products. Zeelandia Ost-West will seek to build on this success and recently started up local production facilities near Moscow for powder-based products such as bread and confectionery mixes. During 2013, the plant will start production.
According to Grigory Rysin, MD Zeelandia Ost-West, the first results of the joint venture are promising. “Local production means a substantial reduction in transport costs and delivery times and largely eliminates currency risks and import duties,” he said. “This enables us to offer competitively priced, tailor-made products for a wide variety of customers including large industrial bakeries, which dominate the Russian bread market. Local production also gives us the flexibility to produce smaller batches, if necessary at short notice.”
Zeelandia Ost-West serves all customer segments throughout Russia and Kazakhstan, either directly or through distributors, with the exception of the food service and catering sector, which will continue to be served by East West Services, as part of its extensive food portfolio for this specific sector.
Russia is the third of the so-called BRIC countries in which Zeelandia has established a permanent local presence. The company is already present in Brazil and China. “The BRIC countries represent substantial growth markets”, said Guido Janssen, CCO Koninklijke Zeelandia Group. “To seize the opportunities in these markets we want to serve our customers with a wider range of products designed for their specific, local needs. We’re confident Zeelandia Ost-West will help us do just that.”
