From the middle of January, the most modern factory of Middle Europe will start with full capacity in Kisvárda
Kisvárda (Kelet-Magyarország – B. J.) – László Bárány co-owner of Baromfi-Coop operating as family enterprise announced it on 7th of April this year: the factory in Kisvárda of Hajdú-Bét Plc just being under liquidation has been obtained by the Baromfi-Coop Group.
And also the sites of Bét in Hajdúnánás, Kisvarsány, Kaba, Földes and Sárospatak were obtained by them. What happened in the poultry empire during the seven months past? Gyula Molnár manager of the Kisvárda factory shows around the yard: construction everywhere you can see. The poultry processing plant which passed all important qualifications last year and the previous year will not be qualified now but it will be reconstructed in order that it can be more modern: only it will fit the Master-M Ltd which established the first eco-poultry processing plant of Hungary in Petneháza.
"The protection and support of the Hungarian poultry is almost zero, it does not even receive such support as given in the EU" - said Gyula Molnár.
Full capital integration
The slaughter-house started from 13th of April after four months’ standstill – said Gyula Molnár. – The new owner as legal successor undertook to employ 200 persons so the employees could keep their labour relations continuously from the Hunnia Coop. First we killed few, twenty-thirty thousand chickens a week then we increased the production step by step and now we already kill 180-200 thousand chickens a week.
This includes 6-7 thousand eco chickens, the others are industrial broilers. The killing and the processing are not all. The Bárány family purchased also the broiler farms of Hajdú-Bét so within a short time, by the end of the next year, it will be able to produce almost ninety percent of the processed chickens in its own sties. László Bárány performed total capital integration by which he owns the whole range of production from the preliminary parent pair breeding under specific conditions to the hatching and from the broiler production to the fodder supply. In this integration he is able to move the whole empire by means of procedures, without having any problem with the harmonisation. Certainly he has sufficient professional support, too, since both of his sons are agrarian experts.
Cheap meat yields dilute soup
In the meanwhile, the opportunities also extended: after the Hajdú-Bét, the Bábolna business also broke and the market widened although the competition will sharpen now with the restart of Békéscsaba. Again it would not be a problem. However, it is a problem that the Hungarian poultry receives almost zero protection and support - says Gyula Molnár. – The food industry does not get such support which is for example granted for the waste disposal in the EU. Thus the Polish and Slovakian chickens supported in these countries are flowing in at much less prices than ours. As a matter of fact, the quality of the imported chicken is far from being the same as produced by Master-M Ltd and sold by the Master Good Ltd.
Let us return to the Kisvárda Plant, in which now the processing is done from the killing to the parting; the packaging and placing on trays are performed in Petneháza now. Following the implementation of the project of almost four hundred million and the complete transformation, each working process will be performed in Kisvárda, in the most modern plant of Middle Europe. The plant was unsuitable for it so far, therefore the transformation of the plant became necessary. For the present, 230 employees are working in the production, mainly skilled workers, and the Regional Labour Education Centre of Nyíregyháza will start skilled workers’ course for forty semi-skilled workers now. The staff number is 350 together with the engineering and administrative colleagues. When the project is finished (expectedly in the middle of January) the packaging machines will be brought from Petneháza and the number of employees of the Kisvárda Plant will be about four hundred.
The product development started
We will probably perform the finishing operations of the eco chicken in Petneháza for a while, and there such new products are made as marinated meat, spiced products which are already known in Europe. Here the product development started now; by this we will be able to utilize the Petneháza Plant – said finally Gyula Molnár manager.
Kelet-Magyarország / 11th November 2004