May 3 (SeeNews) - Bulgaria’s economy ministry said on Wednesday that state-owned dairy company LB Bulgaricum granted a licence to Mongolia's APU Company to develop, produce and distribute on the Asian country's market yoghurt and dairy products based on LB's technology.
The licence has been granted for a period of five years, requiring food and beverage producer APU Company to pay licence fees to LB Bulgaricum, the ministry said in a press release, without providing financial details of the deal.
APU Company, which counts brewer Heineken among its main shareholders, was founded in 1924 and holds a 31% share of the Mongolian dairy market. It has over 320 products in its portfolio and opened an own dairy factory in 2014.
The Mongolian company said it will use Bulgaria's traditional technology for the production of yoghurt and dairy products for the domestic market. This involves the use of Lactobacillus bulgaricus bacteria, which are naturally found in Bulgarian yoghurt and have probiotic properties. APU Company representatives have already visited LB Bulgaricum's production base in Vidin, northwestern Bulgaria. The company has also expressed interest in the joint development of new products to specifically cater to the Mongolian market.
Mongolia becomes the second Asian country after Japan where yoghurt will be produced using the Bulgarian technology. In March, LB Bulgaricum and Japanese pharma and food company Meiji Holdings Co signed a letter of intent to establish a joint research centre to develop dairy and other products. Meiji has produced Bulgarian yoghurt in Japan since 1972.