Eastern Europe eases euro problems

France’s Bongrain reports that the increasingly strong Euro brought business losses in overseas trade for the dairy giant throughout 2007 but adds that the year was saved by substantial sales increases of the dairy’s cheese specialties, in particular to the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and the Ukraine.

Bongrain, which took over Belgian cheesemaker Passendale from Campina in the third quarter of 2007, increased its overall turnover by 9.8% to