Duda to fatten up on exports

Meat producer PKM Duda's revenue from sales grew by seven percent in Q1 2006 to reach zł.231.3 million while profits surged by 65 percent and amounted to zł.11.1 million. "This year we want to concentrate on increasing profitability and reducing costs and not on increasing revenue," said the company's president, Maciej Duda. He estimates that this year PKM Duda's revenue will come in around the level of zł.1 billion, while profits should reach zł.43-45 million. These forecasts are cautious as they do not include revenues from trade with Ukraine, which still maintains a ban on Polish meat.

Despite the ban, PKM Duda expects the role of exports in the company's revenues to grow this year. In Q1 exports amounted to 17 percent of the company's sales, and by the end of the year it is expected to reach 20 percent. "We should point out the growing importance of highly profitable Asian markets in our export sales," Duda said. This year the company began exporting meat to South Korea. It exports zł.0.5 million-worth of products per month to the country and even plans to launch a promotional campaign there. PKM Duda has also recently received the necessary licenses to launch its products in Japan.

PKM Duda also plans to invest in Ukraine. It has already acquired Ukrainian meat producer Borys.