Danish Crown Beef Doing Well

DENMARK - With supplementary payments of DKK 1.25, Danish Crown Beef is demonstrating that dedicated efforts in the past year are bearing fruit.

24 November 2010

2 minute read

Europe

Danish Crown (DC) Beef posted a revenue of DKK 3,470 million this year against DKK 3,100 million last year.

"The results for the year are clear evidence that DC Beef is a strong and competitive division. As has been the case for the rest of the group, the year has for us been dominated by DC Future, and this has led to improved performance all round. All DC Beef departments are exceeding their output targets," explains Lorenz Hansen, Managing Director of DC Beef.

In addition to the record supplementary payments, the results for the year have allowed provisions to be made which will ensure competitive production facilities in future.

"Current capacity is carefully tailored to demand, but we must continue to invest in new equipment, and this is why these provisions are being made this year," says Lorenz Hansen.

Both the Danish and the international markets are making positive contributions to the results.

"We have seen satisfactory developments in the Danish market where we have succeeded in expanding our position. At the same time, an increasing world market price for beef has broadened opportunities in the export markets. For example, we have had a good year in the Russian market, and developments in the EU markets have also been positive," says Lorenz Hansen.

"This is also the first year that the results have fully benefited from the transfer of processing activities to the Husum department whose delivery performance has been impressive throughout the year. It proves to us that Husum is succeeding in its role as a DC Beef flagship," says Lorenz Hansen.

In the past year, DC Beef has increased its share of total slaughterings in Denmark from 57.6 per cent to 60.4 per cent. The number of deliveries to Danish Crown is up, improving capacity utilisation.

"An important element in DC Future is the aim of cutting the cost per kilogram of meat produced in Denmark. Consequently, capacity utilisation is a very important factor. The support from our owners has been fantastic, and we have seen a constant influx of new members. This has boosted supplies to the slaughterhouses and thereby capacity utilisation at our production facilities," says Peder Philipp, Chairman of Danish Crown’s Beef Producer Committee.

The hide market is also growing again, with Scan-Hide making a significant contribution to this year’s results.

DC Beef has in recent years focused on developing its processing activities – in the form of products for both the retail and catering segments.

"The establishment of Sdr. Felding in particular is proving its worth, and being a large group has greatly benefited our collaboration within the field of processing," says Lorenz Hansen.