Maspex among the food companies heading East

It has already taken over a bankrupt sugar mill and is now planning to build a new factory on the same site. Ukrainian analysts believe that it would be more favorable for the company to take over an existing local juice producer, as it will be difficult to establish a strong position of a new brand on that market as promotion and marketing expenditures would have to amount to $30 million. Maspex's other sector competitors, Hoop and Agros Nova, are also planning expansion to the Ukrainian market. Hoop is already present in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Russia, while Agros Nova is busy investing in Russia. "Just as companies from Western Europe transfer production to Poland, so Polish enterprises are entering the Eastern markets which have cheaper labor and raw materials," said Roman Urban of the Institute of Agriculture and Food Market Economics (IERiGŻ). (Parkiet, pp. 1, 5) M.M.