Ceepackaging

Corporate

SIG makes in roads in Slovakia and Czech Rep.

The expansion in the segment ‘Aseptic Carton Packaging for Soups and Sauces’ as announced by SIG last November is under way. SIG has recently succeeded in winning a major new customer based in the CzechRepublic and in Slovakia. Vitana is the market leader in the dried foods sector (including convenience foods, instant products and sauces) and launches ready-made soups and pasta sauces in carton packaging on the market from summer 2006. Through this collaboration with Vitana, and fully in line with the group’s strategic orientation, the SIG Combibloc division is continuing to expand in the segment of carton packaging for food products in the important Eastern European market.

In acquiring Vitana as a new customer, SIG Combibloc has reached a further milestone in expanding the segment ‘Aseptic Carton Packaging for Soups and Sauces’. In November 2005, SIG announced that, in addition to emphasizing market expansion outside Europe, it would strengthen its position in the segment of carton packages for food products.

Vitana, which became part of the Scandinavian group of Rieber & S????n in 1992, has been on the lookout for a new product and packaging concept to take account of both changing consumer eating habits and increasing consumer demand for added convenience. The result: liquid, ready-made vegetable soups and pasta sauces packaged in aseptic cartons. There were two influential factors in the choice of carton packaging: on the one hand, carton packaging is considered to be a mark of healthy, top-quality products in the Czech Republic and Slovakia; while on the other, SIG Combibloc offers many years of experience in UHT processing and filling technology for chunky food products.

Forward-looking collaboration

The development of this joint project is proving to be a forward-looking collaboration for both companies and promises further successes in the market. Should the project meet with a positive consumer response, Rieber & S????n will consider an implementation of the concept in other European markets. The Czech Republic and Slovakia are therefore to be regarded as test markets in the first instance.

For Rolf-Dieter Rademacher, CEO of SIG, this is a confirmation of the group’s overall strategy to develop the carton packaging for food products into the second mainstay of the division SIG Combibloc: “In the coming years we intend to aggressively market our proven technology in the segment for aseptically packaged food products such as soups and sauces, a market estimated at around EUR 4 billion. With Vitana, we have reached a further milestone”. As well as continuing to develop the business for aseptically packaged foodstuffs, this year SIG has also launched its first pilot for the non-aseptic filling of food products in cartons. This procedure is suitable for “extra chunky” food products such as fruit and vegetables. The size of this market is estimated to be around EUR 11 billion.

Vitana

Founded in 1920 under its former name of Graf, producing soup seasonings and other flavorings, Vitana was renamed at the end of the 1950s and was taken over by the Scandinavian group Rieber & S????n in 1992. With a market share of over 50%, Vitana is the market leader for dried and instant soups in the Czech Republic and in Slovakia. Headquartered in Prague, the company has more than 1,000 employees and has a turnover of over EUR 80 million. For Vitana, the collaboration with SIG is an equally important step. For the first time, the company will be producing liquid ready-made soups and sauces.