Not only the mass corona outbreak in its own plant is reflected in the annual balance of the pork supplier.
Tönnies is now looking elsewhere.
Rheda-Wiedenbrück - "The Corona year 2020 was the greatest challenge in the company's history for our company and its employees" - that's the Tönnies Group's balance sheet.
The pandemic crisis and African swine fever have left their mark on Germany's largest slaughterhouse and meat company.
Annual sales fell by 3 percent to a good 7 billion euros, the family company announced on Thursday (April 1).
According to Tönnies, the reasons for this are:
The Corona * outbreak at the Tönnies plant in Rheda-Wiedenbrück led to the plant being closed for four weeks.
The outbreak of African swine fever in Germany resulted in an export ban to third countries.
The lockdown * in the catering trade was also noticeable.
Corona balance from Tönnies: Less meat processing in Germany - but abroad
Nevertheless, Clemens Tönnies' balance sheet was mostly positive.
"Our company consists of 29 production sites around the world, 28 of which had a solid year," he said.
In total, Tönnies processed 16.3 million pigs at its locations in Germany *, two percent less than in the previous year.
In Denmark *, Spain *, Great Britain and Poland, on the other hand, the number of processed animals rose by 17 percent to 4.5 million.
The company is consistently continuing its international growth strategy, emphasized the entrepreneur.
Tönnies relies on organic and vegan meat substitute products: "Consumer demand is growing"
The family company currently sees good growth opportunities in the organic market.
But the company has long since gained a foothold in the production of vegetarian and vegan meat substitute products with brands such as “es schmeckt”, “Vevia” and “Gutfried veggie”.
"Last year we built our own plant for vegetarian and vegan products at our headquarters in Böklund," reported Maximilian Tönnies, the managing director of the Mühlen Group belonging to Tönnies.
"We are now expanding this capacity further and doubling the production area, as consumer demand and trust in the products are growing sustainably," he said.
The company sees the production of vegetarian and vegan foods not as competition to classic meat products, but as an independent market segment and an excellent addition to the product portfolio.
(dpa / frs)
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