CASTUS A/S, one of Denmark’s leading fruit snack producers will now be importing nutritional dates from southern parts of Pakistan to develop healthy fruit bars for children in Denmark.

According to a statement of the Embassy issued here said that CASTUS will be importing around 800 tons of dates per year carrying a total value of USD 650,000/-.

This is the first time that Pakistan will be exporting dates to Denmark and will create a new niche for Pakistani products on the Danish market.

Castus A/S is a well known Danish enterprise which has been producing fruit bars of pure natural ingredients, including dates and other dry fruits for decades.

The company buys its raw material from across the world and is very selective about its choice of suppliers as the company runs on the strong basis of producing healthy snacks from natural ingredients only.

Carrying a very strict quality control, the Danish enterprise has shown extreme appreciation of the quality of dates being produced in Pakistan.

Speaking to Carsten Jensen, Head of Supply, CASTUS, said that “We are extremely impressed by the quality of dates and other raw material being produced in Pakistan and wish we had seen these market opportunities in the past.

However, looking ahead, we have received great interest from many other Pakistani enterprises on supply of natural raw material for our products in Denmark. We find the Pakistani companies extremely professional and credible and we are hoping for long term collaborations and many more business contracts with the Pakistani suppliers”.

The Danish company Castus A/S has entered an agreement with Pakistani supplier companies, Khaipur and Royal Food.

Head of Marketing, CASTUS, Ms. Mette Rasmussen also acknowledged the role of the Danish embassy in Pakistan as facilitators in creating this first time business collaboration.

She further added that the Pakistani dates would play an eminent role in creating good fruit body for the production and thereby add the quality to the final product for the consumers.

The Danish ambassador to Pakistan, Mr. Uffe Wolffhechel expressed great enthusiasm about this new business collaboration between Pakistan and Denmark.

“This new positive collaboration between a leading Danish production company and Pakistani enterprises has opened up new business opportunities for Pakistani companies to enter the Danish market and will surely increase the economic cooperation between Denmark and Pakistan. We are extremely pleased to see that Danish companies see business opportunities in Pakistan and will be focusing this way to boost the business development in Pakistan.”

The CASTUS A/S has an annual product sale of over 30 Million of their products, primarily in Denmark - however now the international companies are also looking at these healthy quality products.

The product is a huge success among children, who eat the Castus fruit bars as part of their snack meals during the day or if they are engaged in sports activities, as the natural ingredients boost the energy level as well as keeps them healthy in their growing age.

The company Castus Konsum ApS was established in Denmark in 1952 by Henri Schmidt. After many years of being a successful family owned company, it was bought by CPC Foods A/S in August 1993.

In 2000 Castus was bought by Unilever and in 2003 the Castus A/S was bought by its present owner HWO Holding A/S, which runs several of other well known companies in Denmark.