Nestlé starts production at new plant in Western Hungary

Nestlé Hungária, the Hungarian unit of Swiss-based food giant Nestlé, has begun trial production at the company's second, HUF 10 billion (€37.3 million - $53.9 million) pet food plant in Western Hungary, business daily Világgazdaság reported.

Nestlé Hungária plans to hire 250 people to work at the 10,000 sqm plant in the village of Bük, located about 5 km from Hungary's border with Austria, the paper said.

The plant, which will serve as the regional production base for Nestlé's United States-based pet food division Nestlé Purina PetCare, will export most of its production to other countries in the Central and East European region.

The other, old Nestlé plant at Bük is producing more than 100,000 tonnes of pet food annually with 360 employees. Nestlé started at Bük in 1998 by buying a local pet food producer together with its trademarks.

Hungary's pet food industry is mostly made up of Mars, Nestlé and Provimi's Pet Hungária, and with exports of €269.3 million ($389.3 million) in 2009 Hungary was the seventh-largest pet food exporter in the world with 4.5% of global markets. Total production increased to 413,000 tonnes last year from 399,000 in 2009.