Growth in global cooking bag market prompts Sirane investment
Mark Lingard, marketing executive, Sirane, told FoodProductionDaily.com the last 12 months have seen growth in the cooking bag market, and the UK-based company has been expanding across the world accordingly.
“There has been a lot of growth, and a lot of it is overseas," he said.
"In Australia, we have an agent who is doing very good work, we opened a warehouse in South Africa [in 2013], and what we’ve done in the last couple of years is significantly increase our network of distributors and agents.”
Investment in the UK and Turkey
Sirane has installed the two ‘bag-making’ machines at its UK plant in Shropshire, to increase its capacity to produce steam cooking bags and roasting bags.
The company expanded its operations into North America earlier this year, and the increase in production in the UK will feed this market.
An additional machine has been installed in the Turkish manufacturing plant in Antalya. The site opened in 2012, and Lingard said operations will eventually grow to replicate that of the UK.
“We chose Turkey because of the location, we opened the building and warehousing a couple of years ago,” said Lingard. “We’ve got significant supply routes out of Turkey to Russia, the Middle East, the former Soviet Union. And there’s an enormous food production operation in Turkey itself.
“We’re based in Antalya, which is the sea port for the entire region, so it’s the perfect location.”
Adding value to products
Sirane’s cooking bags include steam cooking bags for oven and microwave, oven and BBQ bags, nylon roasting bags, sous-vide bags, and its dual compartment microwavable bags.
“In general terms, the products we make, quite simply, make a difference,” said Lingard. “For example, they are increasing shelf life, adding value to products – that’s an area where a lot of companies are looking.”
“At the supermarket end, they are looking to steady a slide in sales. Cooking bags are a fairly simple solution that can make a big difference to margins.
“In seafood, one of the industry problems is that when customers see fish, they don’t know what to do with it. That’s a real barrier to sales. By putting that fish in a bag, with printed instructions, all they do is take it home and follow those instructions. Suddenly, a daunting piece of fish has been made easy and sales reflect that.”
Sirane designs, develops and manufactures packaging, specialising in absorbency and ovenable/microwaveable products, compostable packaging, films, boards, and absorbent pads.
