Bochum/Copenhagen, January 20, 2009 – The GEA Group has received an order for a complete freeze drying plant of the type CONRAD(TM) 500 from Café Iguaçu, one of Brazil's biggest coffee manufacturers.
The value of the total project is in the range of EUR 16 million. The freeze drying plant of GEA Niro handles all freeze drying operations from the concentrated coffee extract to the finished freeze-dried coffee.
The order will enable the company to increase its production from the current 18,000 ton of instant coffee per year to 19,500 ton which will help the company satisfy a global increase in demand for high-quality instant coffee. Café Iguaçu chose GEA Niro’s CONRAD™ 500 as the company had installed a similar system at a joint venture company in Spain, in partnership with Seda Solubles of Palencia, last year. “Our experience shows us that this is the best technology for us”, says Fabio Sato, Corporate Planning Manager. In the past seven years, GEA Niro has delivered more than ten freeze drying plants for coffee manufacturers all over the world.
The GEA Group Aktiengesellschaft is Germany's largest listed mechanical engineering group. As an international technology group, the company concentrates on specialty mechanical engineering, with a focus on process technology and components. Consolidated sales amounted to EUR 5.2 billion in 2007, when the group generated over 50 percent of its sales in the high-growth food processing and beverages industries. As of September 30, 2008, the company's workforce comprised over 21,000 employees, based in 50 countries. The GEA Group ranks as a market and technology leader in 90 percent of its business areas and is listed on the German MDAX share index (G1A, WKN 660200).