GRUMA expands in UK - Brief Article - Statistical Data Included

Eurofood, August 31, 2000

Mexican based Grupo Maseca (GRUMA), the world's largest tortilla maker, has announced that it will expand its production capacity in the European market. Recently, the company's Mission Foods branch built a US$40m (44m [European Dollar]) tortilla plant in Coventry, in the UK. Before completion of the plant, GRUMA supplied tortillas to the European market via its US subsidiary, Mission Foods. The UK plant, which produces 140 000 tortillas per hour, is responding to a strong upsurge in the demand for tortillas in the EU over the past five years. Gruma recently announced that it will also install equipment for the production of chapati at its Coventry plant later in the year. This will boost both the scope and volume of European sales over the next year. According the corporate financial statement for the first half of this year, the percentage of foreign sales reached 64% during that period, up from 54% one year earlier.

GRUMA sales 1999

Location           %

USA/EU            43
Mexico            36
Venezuela         15
Central America    6

Source: Gruma