Sara Lee to spend Ft 800 mln to boost tea capacity at Hungarian unit

US food giant Sara Lee is spending Ft 800 million to expand capacity at its tea-packaging plant in Budapest, head of Sara Lee Hungary Kft Tibor Seres announced on Wednesday.

The investment is part of a larger, Ft 5 billion development program carried out over the past 4-5 years. In addition to packaging tea at the plant, Sara Lee also roasts and packages coffee. The plant operates 19 tea production lines, up from seven when in it opened in 2000, with a combined capacity of 3,300-3,400 tons, Seres said.

In volume terms, coffee makes up 80% of the Hungarian unit’s production and tea makes up 20%. In value terms, however, the share of coffee is 60% and the share of tea is 40%. The unit sells its coffee in other countries in the region as well, and it exports tea to several European countries as well as to Russia.
Sara Lee does not publish any financial figures for its foreign units.