Animex hungry for foreign markets

Meat producer Animex's new president, Dariusz Nowakowski, says Poland can be proud of its meat products and should make them a key export offer.

"We have something we can offer the world," he said. The president of the supervisory board, Richard Poulson, pointed out that last year imports of pork to Poland almost equaled the country's pork exports. "We want to see these meat dollars going back into the pockets of Polish farmers rather than Danish or French ones," Poulson said.

Animex's largest markets are the US, the UK, and Germany, as well as Korea and Japan, which have lately been the focus of its attention. But Nowakowski thinks there are also huge opportunities in Europe. "We are not as big in Germany or in France as we should be," he claims. In the Far East the company doesn't want to stop at Japan and Korea. "We are closely looking at the Chinese market," said Animex's external PR director, Andrzej Pawelczak, adding that a lot depends on clearing the hurdles thrown up by Chinese red tape.

The company representatives also referred to the idea of selling meat products from Poland under a single Polish meat brand. "As far as fresh meat goes, the idea is worth considering," Pawelczak claimed, but he doesn't think the idea is worth pursuing for processed-meat producers. "Companies have invested too much in promoting their own brands," he added.

Animex is still trying to shake off the shadow from the infamous Constar scandal, when its Polish subsidiary was accused of selling old meat. The new president says the affair cost the company over zł.25 million. "We have paid a heavy price and drew conclusions from it," Nowakowski said.

In the past, one of the most vocal critics of Animex has been the Minister of Agriculture, Andrzej Lepper, but Poulson says he is willing to meet the Minister at any time. "I believe we have the same goal - to enable the agricultural economy in Poland to achieve a leading position in the world," he said.