Natfood CJSC, a meat processing factory, invested $26 mln in the production expansion in 2008-2012, Yervand Poghosyan, Chief Financial Officer of Natfood CJSC, told ArmInfo. To recall, Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan visited the factory on July 29.
Poghosyan said that the funds were spent on construction of a new factory in Yerevan with a capacity of 40 tons daily. Earlier the capacity of the enterprise was 3 tons daily, he said. Natfood CJSC invested 9 mln USD from its own funds, and most of the investments were attracted from international financial structures. In particular, the company attracted loans from the Black Sea Trade and Development Bank, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and VTB Bank (Armenia). The new factory was launched in January 2013. At the moment 7 tons of meat products are produced daily, and by late 2013 the factory is going to increase its productivity to 20 tons daily, Poghosyan said.
He added that Natfood CJSC has already started exporting its products to Georgia (7 tons daily). "The exports are not big but the demand for Armenian products is gradually growing and we have no serious competitors yet", he said. For the moment the factory has nearly 120 employees. As soon as the factory switches to a capacity of 20 tons, the number of employees will be increased to 180.
To note, Natfood CJSC was founded in 1998 on the basis of Biella enterprise. In 2008 Natfood CJSC launched the construction of the new meat processing factory. The advanced technologies have allowed improving the production and introducing the ISO quality management system.