As Central Europe’s second-largest country, Poland is a hugely attractive market for all types of food professionals creating a huge scope for the development of the cold chain logistics sector. The two major transport corridors linking the country to Northern Europe and Central Asia makes it the regional food hub, reaching beyond the European Union and into the Middle East, North Africa, and Asia. The favourable location of the country allows it the full accessibility to well-serviced road, air and rail links.

Food exports are vital to Poland’s multi-billion dollar economy. Poland’s exporters are on a continuous lookout for excellent cold chain logistics services in terms of reefer trucks, chiller equipment and warehousing facilities.

Key Market Trends

Changes in Consumer Habits Fueling the Demand for Cold Chain Facilities

Advanced urbanisation leading to the growth of one person and two-person households is strengthening the prospects of growth of processed and ready meals in the market. The traditional model of cooking does not necessarily work for millennials, post-millennials, and households with one or two people. The rising disposable income, strong real GDP growth and a record low unemployment rate backed the retail volume growth of packaged food in Poland in 2019. The trend of health consciousness has also reflected in the form of strong demand for prepared salads. Local cuisines like traditional dumplings and croquettes are one of the most popular within both chilled and frozen ready meals.

Dr Oetker (a German multinational company that produces baking powder, cake mixes, frozen pizza, pudding, cake decoration, cornflakes, and various other products) remained the leading branded player in 2019 due to its dominance in the production of frozen pizza. The companies like Uber Eats, Wolt and food catering companies like the local player Fit Papu are starting to cover extensive areas in more cities in the country. These trends are leading to an increasing demand for cold storage and transportation facilities in the country.

Demand for Temperature and Humidity Control in the Supply Chain

Poland produces more than 15 million tons of milk, 6 million tons of vegetables, 4 million tons of fruits, 2.3 million tons of poultry, 2 million tons of pork, 0.5 million tons of frozen vegetables and 0.5 million tons of fish & seafood.

The control of ambient conditions is particularly important in meat and dairy handling, where the dairy products are not only sensitive to temperature but also to the handling and mechanical damage while loading and unloading, while in meat, due to the increased ambient temperature harmful bacteria may grow and multiply causing food poisoning on consumption. For this reason, the companies producing and transporting meat, fish or dairy products are bound to maintain the continuity of the cold chain facilities with set environmental conditions throughout the entire production, storage and delivery process.

Perishable food items, in the case of fruit and vegetables, need the humidity level in control at every stage in the supply chain starting with packaging, storage, through transportation and warehouses of trade outlets.

The development of the polish cold chain market is vital for these products in the domestic as well as the international market.

Competitive Landscape

The Polish cold chain logistics market is a fragmented market, which consists of a large number of local players to cater to the growing demand. Some of the major players in the market include PUH Jamax, ARRA Group and Nowakowski Transport.

The country already has a 10.30 million square metres of chilled storage space, while another 640,000 square metres is being built. With an annual investment of about USD 2 billion on new warehousing facilities, the storage capacity is expected to impressively increase in the coming years. Along with this, a number of factors are driving up the need for transportation solutions across the country including food, nuclear reactors and machineries, electrical equipment that are temperature sensitive.

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