'Lithuania Food and Drink Report 2008' Provides Independent ...

Tag : Food And Drink
DUBLIN, Ireland - (Business Wire) Research and Markets ( http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/081e11/lithuania _ food _ and ) has announced the addition of the "Lithuania Food and DrinkReport 2008" report to their offering.
Lithuania represents one of the more attractive markets for foodand drink retailers in the Central and Eastern European(CEE)market. In BMI ’ s revised Business Environment Ranking table for the food industryin CEE, Lithuania is placed third, after Hungary and Slovenia. Inthe past few years, the growth in the country ’ s mass grocery retail (MGR) sector has exceeded most of itscounterparts in the region, which has boosted value and volumeincrease of food and drink consumption. However, a broader
economic slowdown will act as a brake on this situation over thecoming years.
The small size of its population represents a major drawback tocompanies thinking of entering the country, despite the fact thatLithuania is viewed as one of the CEE ’ s more liberalised and dynamic economies. Furthermore, Lithuania ’ s MGR and food retail market are considered the most consolidatedin the Baltic region, which has already stopped some internationalretailers from entering the country. Lithuania ’ s MGR sector and, in fact, retail as a whole, is dominated byMaxima LT (previously VP Market), with Rimi Baltic in second place.The country ’ s domestic players are increasingly aiming to expand abroad inorder to avoid the pitfalls of the concentration of the localmarket.
Nevertheless, rising disposable incomes - although Lithuaniansremain among the poorest citizens in the European Union (EU) - willrepresent one of the key drivers of the growth of food volume andvalue sales over the forecast period. A strong economy andrelatively stable political climate will allow key companiesoperating in the market to make longer-term plans, which mayinclude takeovers of smaller food processing firms. In themeantime, BMI does not expect major developments in the country ’ s food sector, judging by the relatively quiet recent months.
Companies Mentioned: IKI Group JSC Rokiskio Suris Kalnapilio-Tauro Grupe (KTG) (Royal Unibrew) Maxima LT (Vilniaus Prekyba) Paulig Baltic AS
For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/081e11/lithuania _ food _ and
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