The year began with major strengthening maneuvers: the agreement with Gennari di Parma, Parmesan and Grana Padano producer, was preparatory for the creation of Granarolo Chile, a subsidiary of Granarolo International, the first platform to oversee the South American market, followed, in October, by the acquisition of a 25% stake in European Foods, the leading importer and distributor of Italian food products in New Zealand, and that distributes both in the retail channel and in the foodservice sector. The transaction will allow Granarolo to make a first step in Oceania and then expand to Australia and South East Asia countries. The Italian cheese market in New Zealand is worth over €5 million, while the entire southern continent total comes to about 33 million euro, of which more than half comes from just Parmesan and Grana Padano.
The PDO hard cheese sector is an important area which Granarolo – after achieving strong growth in recent years in fresh cheeses – has been developing for a two-year period.
“The goal – declared the company’s marketing department – is to preserve and enhance the inherent tradition in these typical Italian cheeses with high nutritional properties.Consumers can choose between ready to use Granarolo in an envelope and the classic wedge, ideal as a meal with chutneys and honey. But not only. Thanks to some local dairy company partnerships, the Granarolo Group today boasts a complete line of the best Italian dairy traditional cheeses: Ferruccio Podda in Sardinia, prides itself on the production of Sardinian cheeses, including a mixture of sheep and cow’s milk pecorino and a classic PDO Sardinian pecorino cheese; Pinzani, which offers our customers a broad line of Senese unpasteurised pecorino cheeses; Amalattea, specializing in the production of goat’s milk cheese; Gennari, the brand focused on the selection, cutting and packaging of PDO Parmigiano Reggiano and the production of PDO prosciutto di Parma. The focus of Granarolo in hard cheeses is also confirmed by the creation of the grating and portioning department for PDO Grana Padano in our factory in Bologna. During 2016, we will be working on communication projects for the consumer, with a focus on PDO Grana Padano, and freshly cut cheeses aimed at enhancing the taste and the traditional positioning of the various specialty cheeses that have become part of our group”.