Hipp: first potato harvest in Kaliningrad

The Germany-based company Hipp  is now relying on planting some organic produce in Kaliningrad, The Moscow Times reports. The company is proud of their first potato harvest: "I am very excited about this new harvest. Hopefully this won't be our last," general director and co-owner Sefan Hipp has said at a recent company-organized visit to a Kaliningrad factory.

The organic potatoes were grown on the plot of land in the Kaliningrad region, which is also home to a Hipp baby-food factory. The plant in the village of Mamonovo, right at the border to Poland, has a capacity of 45 million to 50 million jars annually, and a possibility to expand to 200 million jars per year. The plan is to focus on the one plant over the next five years and then possibly consider a second one.

The annual baby-food market for Russian children up to 3 years old is estimated at 337,000 tons, or 1.5 million euros, according to 2010 numbers by Nielsen. Today, companies using traditional farming methods dominate the market In Russia, but Hipp, which calculates its local market share at 5 %, is optimistic. The baby-food market is projected to grow 8 % annually, and Hipp's market share in its native Germany is more than 50 %, according to Hipp. So far, the organic food market in Russia accounts for less than 1 % of the total market.

The Moscow Times