Its customers in the region include Alquería in Colombia and Danone in Argentina, both of which recently launched products using Ecolean’s packaging.
Dramatic growth in the last five years
Peter Nilsson, CEO, Ecolean Grouop, told FoodProductionDaily, the company has expanded into several markets in Asia, the Middle East and Europe and the North American market for stand-up pouches has seen dramatic growth in the last five years.
“The US market is important to us in many ways. Naturally the size of the country is one thing, but the fact that US consumers are conscious of food safety, environmental issues and have a natural interest in new and convenient packaging also plays a part,” he said.
“Our products are attractive to many liquid food producers and we have seen interest in our cold-fill aseptic packaging system. Equally important are the growing markets in Central and South America.”
The company has a history in dairy products but since the launch of its aseptic system in 2009 it has customers in the dairy and juice segment, including ice tea.
Ecolean Clear
It makes stand-up pouches, from 200ml to 1500ml, for liquid food products (for both chilled and ambient distribution). Its aseptic stand-up pouch, Ecolean Air Aseptic, is also available in a transparent version called Clear.
“We have two factories, one in Helsingborg, Sweden where our headquarters is located and one in Tianjin, China,” added Nilsson.
“We are actually expanding our production capacity in both the factories right now to keep up with customer demand and we need to ensure we have enough capacity for continued expansion. We have market companies in Dallas, Beijing, Lahore in Pakistan and Dubna, Russia.”
He added gaining an even stronger foothold in South America is a next natural step for Ecolean and it chose Dallas because of its infrastructure and strategic location.
“During the last year we have noticed an ever increasing interest from liquid food producers in these regions and by opening an office in Dallas approaching new customers will be much easier,” he added.
“We are continuing our geographical expansion and entering new markets globally. In many of these markets we are sensing a shift, towards improved convenience.
“In the coming years we will increase our presence by opening up additional sales offices. The exact location of these will be decided by our sales development.”