The food industry prepares for a new market

The many companies operating in the food industry in Region Zealand and in East Holstein should be better prepared for the new opportunities and challenges offered to business and industry by the future Fehmarnbelt fixed link.

This, at least, is the view of the Green Center in Lolland in Denmark and the German Wirtschaftsförderung in Lübeck, the two organisations that have joined together to establish the so-called Beltfood partnership. The partnership aims to enhance skills development in small and medium-sized food companies.

Beltfood's Danish section is based at Green Center in Holeby on Lolland, with Lis Andresen as manager:

”We focus on smaller food companies from Region Zealand with ambitions to expand their market into Germany," she explains. "We help them to exploit synergies by finding partners and qualified employees on the other side. We’re also keen to promote a cross-border workforce.”

In Germany, Lübeck's Wirtschaftsförderung, which also supports foodRegio e.V., the food industry network in Schleswig-Holstein, is in charge of Beltfood. The business development unit is in little doubt about the new market potential that the German-Danish cooperation has to offer, particularly for small companies.

"Denmark provides a wide range of market opportunities for food producers from traditional food retail and business-to-business right through to large-scale public-sector customers", says Björn P. Jacobsen, Managing Principal at Lübeck’s Wirtschaftsförderung. Export advisors are on hand, allowing small companies that have no experience of doing business abroad to learn what they need to tap into the market potential in Denmark.

The initiative has launched a series of seminars intended to prepare business people to enter the market on the other side of the belt.

She adds: ”We intend to organise the course over five days in the spring where one of the days will be a joint event at which Danish and German participants can meet and build new contacts. The programme will round off with a joint trip to a food fair, possibly Food Expo/Anuga.”

The company Økoladen (the Eco Barn) in Vordingborg, which produces hand-made organic chocolate, is one of the companies that has joined Beltfood. Director Jan Elmelund has a clear purpose for participating in the course:

”I want to know more about the German market. The German economy is currently growing and because German consumers buy more organic products we would like to see whether we can sell our chocolate to them. We say half jokingly that since Vordingborg is midway between Copenhagen and Hamburg, there should be a market for us on the other side, too. In fact, there’s no reason why our lorries shouldn't drive to Hamburg as well."

The Danish section of Beltfood is based in Region Zealand's Food Platform, a network of some 450 companies.

”We plan to follow up on this year's course in 2012 by offering a number of initiatives that reflect the companies' new demands," Lis Andresen says. "Perhaps we can outsource the course to an educational institution that will run it as a regular programme."

Proximity certainly plays an important role in being able to take the opportunities offered by a cross-border market, adds Björn P. Jacobsen. "From 2020, it will be quicker to go from Lübeck to Denmark than to south-west Hamburg."

Beltfood is primarily funded through the EU's Interreg IV programme.