Bonduelle acquires frozen food factory in Russia

French processed vegetable producer Bonduelle Group has acquired the industrial assets of LLC Shock, a Russian frozen vegetable production company located in the Belgorod region.

Financial details of the deal have not been divulged.

With the acquisition of a frozen vegetable plant, Bonduelle intends to continue its development in Russia.

Located in an agricultural region, the industrial site is expected to speed up the development of Bonduelle’s activity in the frozen products sector.

The group is strengthening its positions in Russia and the Community of Independent States (CIS) through its canned vegetables products that are offered under Bonduelle and Globus brands.

Additionally, the investment will enable the company to establish its presence in the mono-vegetable and simple mixes market segment, which has been banned for import by the embargo.

With 50 permanent employees, the production site is expected to have annual production between 6,000 and 10,000 tonnes of frozen vegetables within three years.

Bonduelle intends to partner with the local agricultural community, developing its expertise in environmentally friendly practices.

Currently, Bonduelle is operating 10,000ha of agricultural land in order to supply to its production facilities.

Since the mid-1990s, Bonduelle has been commercially active in the Russian market in the canned and frozen food segment.

In 2004, Bonduelle set up its local production of canned vegetables in Russia by constructing a plant in the Krasnodar region, south of Russia, and was followed by the acquisition of an existing plant in the same area in 2012.

In January, Bonduelle entered talks with Seneca Foods to buy its Lebanon facility in Pennsylvania, US.

Used for packaging frozen products, the facility was developed in 2008 and acquired by Seneca in 2010.

It has a production capacity of 45,000t on seven packaging lines and has 140 permanent collaborators.