French fresh-cut specialist Bonduelle has announced that it will construct a new factory for the production of ready-to-eat bagged salads in San Paolo d’Argon, in the Italian province of Bergamon.
The site, which will be built on the spot previously occupied by the company’s old factory, which burned down in February 2008, will have a production capacity of 20,000 tonnes and will be manned by some 200 personnel.
According to the group, this new factory required an investment of some €20m.
“Today, after a 2008/09 campaign marked by a slowdown in consumption, the Italian market for salads is starting to pick up,” the company said, “which means that Bonduelle, the market leader with a 40 per cent share, needs to reconfigure its production resources.”
Bonduelle added that when the new factory comes online in the spring of 2011, its sites in Costa di Mezzate and Lallio will be closed and the staff relocated to San Paolo.
