Potatoes

Oerlemans to Double Potato Processing Capacity

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Venlo, Holland-headquartered Oerlemans Foods, a manufacturer of frozen vegetable, fruit and potato products, has announced that its vegetable processing in the Netherlands will be done exclusively at the company’s Waalwijk plant and that potato processing is to be consolidated at the Broekhuizenvorst factory. Capacity for spuds will be doubled, and additional farmers will be contracted to supply more raw material — primarily Fontane and Challenger tuber varieties.

French fries, which account for the biggest part of Oerlemans’ frozen potato offerings, are supplied to retail and foodservice channels as well as industrial accounts. Pre-fried in vegetable oil, they are are said to contain 50% less fat than standard products available from other suppliers.

Oerlemans-Fries

The company, a unit of H2 Equity Partners, is looking to boost sales in developing markets throughout the Middle East and Latin America, as well as in Europe. It currently produces over 1,000 different items under proprietary brand names and private labels, and exports to approximately 50 countries.

“As a result of the large harvest and the Russian import boycott on top of that, this has been a troublesome season, according to a report published by AGF. “This is especially noticeable at Oerlemans’ two production locations in Poland, where the company focuses on Eastern Europe and Russia. Now Polish farmers are cutting their acreage.”