The Schwälbchen Molkerei in Bad Schwalbach will once again close the past financial year with a negative group result.

However, the signs are pointing to recovery after the fresh food business has picked up speed again after the tough pandemic years of 2020 and 2021.

The fresh food service supplies gastronomy, canteens, canteen kitchens and other bulk buyers with dairy products such as cream and yoghurt and was severely slowed down during the lockdowns.

Oliver Bock

Correspondent for the Rhein-Main-Zeitung for the Rheingau-Taunus district and for Wiesbaden.

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According to CEO Günter Berz-List, sales of around 110 million euros will exceed the weak result of 2021 (72 million euros) by more than 50 percent.

Price-adjusted, Schwälbchen is building on the pre-Corona year 2019.

Overall, Berz-List expects a balanced result for the fresh food service in 2022 after the two years of heavy losses.

However, this "black zero" will not be able to compensate for the result of the dairy as a second business area.

A third more money for fuel

Founded in 1938, the dairy, which obtains its milk from around 200 family farms in large parts of Hesse, has been hit by the sharp rise in energy and logistics costs over the past year.

Schwälbchen has to spend a third more than in previous years on fuel alone.

The dairy does not have its own fleet of vehicles, but uses numerous forwarders to collect the milk with special vehicles and bring it to the market after processing.

But carriers charge higher bills.

Berz-List confirms the FAZ's forecast from the summer, according to which the dairy will have processed around 130 million kilograms of milk in 2022.

That is seven percent less than in 2021. The reason is the dry and hot summer, which slowed down the milk yield of the cows.

In terms of quality, the milk also lagged behind the previous year in terms of the most important components, fat and protein.

Schwälbchen is currently paying farmers record prices of 60 cents per kilogram.

This makes the dairy one of the largest payers in the region, says the dairy's CEO.

minus of around 600,000 euros

Schwälbchen only benefits to a limited extent from the increased consumer prices at the refrigerated counter.

For cream, quark and yoghurt, retail prices initially rose more slowly than for other dairy products that are not in Schwälbchen's portfolio, says Berz-List.

But he is glad that the logistics and value chains were not torn in the crisis.

Nevertheless, he expects a minus of around 600,000 euros for the dairy.

That is about half the minus of the past year.

With sales of EUR 110 million each, both business areas are expected to be equal for the first time, and they will lift the group result above the EUR 200 million threshold for the first time.

This is well above the Schwälbchen Group's consolidated turnover of 157 million euros in the pandemic year 2021. Berz-List is going into 2023 with cautious optimism due to the ongoing cost pressure and the imponderables.