August 11, 2011

Lithuania's Kauno Grudai to establish join venture with Chinese company

Lithuania's food group Kauno Grudai (Kaunas Grain, KG) is creating a joint venture in the Netherlands with a Chinese company for trade in fodder vitamins.

"We will represent a Chinese plant in Europe," said Marius Gudas, KG director of commerce.

The annual turnover of joint venture is expected to reach US$60 million.

According to Gudas, the Netherlands had been chosen due to convenient logistics, clear tax system and other factors. "It would have been much more difficult to convince the Chinese to invest in a country that is hard to find on the globe," he said when asked to explain why the company had been set up outside Lithuania.

KG previously invested in the production of vitamins and minerals in Belarus. Mineral vitamin supplements and premixes are also produced by one of the group's subsidiaries.