Kiremko and Idaho Steel help potato processors take full advantage of flakes boom!

It will come as no surprise to insiders of the potato processing industry that the worldwide flakes industry finds itself in an extremely favourable position over the last 1 ½ years. An increasing demand for this versatile ingredient mainly driven by the ever-growing savoury snacks and convenience foods industry combined with a structural lack of processing capacity in the traditional flake production hotspots of Northwest America and Western Europe, has triggered the growth of a potato flake production base in emerging markets, especially in countries where the raw material is available in suitable quantities and quality.

This trend is seen especially in countries with some impressive macro economic growth rates which today form the so-called BRIC-group (Brazil, Russia, India and China). Following a more than 10 year investment in those countries in terms of marketing and active promotion, Kiremko was fortunate enough to capitalize on the actual developments and has been able to recently conclude turnkey contracts to supply potato flake processing lines in Brazil, India and China. Two lines have been recently start-up successfully, another one is currently being installed, one is under construction and another two are expected to be in full production next autumn.

The complete potato flake line is a result of close cooperation with Kiremko’s strategic partner Idaho Steel Products (ISP) from Idaho Falls, USA. With over 60 drum dryers for potato flakes installed worldwide, the ISP drum dryer is already a well-known asset in North America, but is now also increasingly in use in other regions of the world. The ISP drum dryer is specifically designed for the needs of the potato processing industry and amongst its features should be mentioned its high evaporation performance per square meter, full stainless steel construction including stainless steel surface coating, programmable automatic scraping system and remote adjustable applicator rollers to improve operation flexibility.

For these technical and technological benefits, it was especially rewarding that not only the first and nowadays leading flake producer in China, Hailar Maifulao Co. preferred the Kiremko/Idaho Steel drum dryer, but also the well-known German supplier of dehydrated potato products, Nähr Engel of Goch, Germany, came to the same conclusion and will install an ISP drum dryer next summer in replacement of an existing drum dryer to increase the production capacity.