Kampomos said it had bought two new production lines, one from mother firm Campofrio and another from Fava Giorgio Axel in Italy, to manufacture new fresh meat products for the Russian market.
Both lines consist of equipment used widely across Europe and the US, including a highly efficient slicer CFS, a conveyer with a dispenser CFS and a Multivac packaging machine. Kampomos said the additions would allow it to produce between 13 and 20 tons of new products per day.
Elena Ivcenko, products manager, said that "in comparison with existing equipment, the new Porqua packaging model packs the products in portions of 75 grams each and it packs it using Skin technology.
"This means the packing tape fits firmly around the product and it keeps the humidity, which maintains the product's freshness during 30 days without freezing."
He added that the way the new slicer cut products should help the meat to retain a stronger taste after cooking.
Kampomos general director Fedor Ogarkov said the move was intended to change the company's products assortment in the direction of high-margin products. "Using the new equipment, we will manufacture products which are not yet known to the Russian consumer, but are very well sold in Europe," he said, adding "the new assortment policy will allow us to increase income this year."
The firm said its new high margin products would include high quality sausage meats and ham as well as meat that could be cooked in less than five minutes and contained different ingredients, including cheese and mushrooms.
Market analysts think that innovation in meat products is rising five to six per cent annually. Kampomos said it hoped the company's income from launching new products in 2005 would be more than $300,000.
Kampomos plans to begin marketing its new products at Russia's richer city dwellers, who it believes have less time to cook due to their faster-paced lifestyles. The firm currently has about a seven per cent market share of Moscow's processed meat market.