VILNIUS - Rokiskio Suris, one of Lithuania's largest dairy groups, announced this week that it intends to sell about one-fourth of its cheese to Italy's Egidio Galbani in the future.
Dalius Trumpa, production manager at Rokiskio Suris, announced that Rokiskio Suris signed a long-term contract last month to sell some 5,000 tons of cheese annually to Egidio Galbani, one of Italy's leading dairy and meat producers and distributors with sales over 1 billion euros.
Trumpa said that the Lithuanian dairy, where he was previously CEO, would supply various types of cheese to the Italian company both for reprocessing and for sale.
"This enterprise both produces and sells products, like we do in Lithuania. Our cheese will be sold both under their brand name and under our brand name," he said.
Egidio Galbani reported sales revenues of 1.1 billion euros in 2002. The company sells 77 percent of its products domestically, owns five factories and employs a workforce of approximately 3,800 people.
Trumpa said that Rokiskio Suris had also signed contracts with Italian and Dutch distributors. It will supply hard cheese and mozzarella-type cheese to Italy and Gouda and Tilsit-type cheese to Holland.
"In line with our plans, our cheese exports to the European Union should account for around 50 percent to 70 percent of our total cheese exports. Currently, we are also in talks with Italian, Danish, German and Dutch representatives," he said.
The Lithuanian dairy group manufactured 19,000 tons of cheese in 2003, a 7.3 percent decline over 2002.
Rokiskio Suris posted a consolidated net profit of 14.9 million litas (4.3 million euros) on sales of 363.8 million litas in 2003 under international accounting standards. The company's profit was down almost 3 percent year-on-year due to the falling U.S. dollar.
