These are some of the first elements of strategy officially communicated by Lactalis representatives nearly three years after taking over the LaDorna group from businessman Jean Valvis.
In April 2008 Lactalis took over the LaDorna operations in a transaction valued at the time at EUR70 to 90 million, thus becoming one of the leading companies on the dairy market.
“Despite the decline recorded on the Romanian dairy market, our company expects a 10% increase in 2011 against the preceding year,” says Dorel Radu, general manager of Lactalis Romania.
“In fact, since the time of its acquisition, LaDorna has followed an upward trend on the Romanian market and its market share has grown from year to year.”
According to data provided by the company, in 2010 Lactalis Romania posted a turnover of over EUR40 million, up 8% on 2009.
Currently, LaDorna products are manufactured in five facilities, four of which are located in northern Romania. One facility is located in Dobrogea (SE Romania). This facility makes LaDorna ‘telemea’ (a type of traditional Romanian cheese), a product whose sales have gone up by over 20% per year in the last three years, according to company data.
The LaDorna representative says the group does not plan to make major changes in the production chain, although a Suceava facility where cottage cheese was made has been recently closed and the equipment moved to Poland.
“98% of LaDorna products are made in Romania, with only 2% being produced in other countries. The 2% are mainly accounted for by cottage cheese, ultra-fresh products made in Poland, and Feta cheese produced in Greece,” LaDorna’s official says. “Cottage cheese production equipment has been recently relocated to Poland, where demand for this product is significantly higher, whereas in Romania it is a niche segment. We don’t intend to make major changes as far as production is concerned.”