esco Launches New Product Balance® Salt

Europe's major salt producer esco - european salt company GmbH & Co. KG launches a new product. Balance® Salt completes the product range of food-grade and table salts of the market leader from Hanover, Germany, thus combining the expertise of K+S Group in salt, potash and mineral products.

Balance® Salt consists of 50 per cent sodium chloride; the other half being combinations of the essential minerals potash, calcium and magnesium.

"We have great hopes of our new product because it has achieved top votings in numerous blind tests. First reactions from industry and retail trade have been very promising," reports Guillermo Carvallo-Risi, esco Produktmanager.

Also in packaging design esco is trying out new avenues. Balance® Salt for end consumers comes in a high-quality 300 grams shaker, while the food industry and manufacturers are supplied with 25 kg bags.

The market for sodium-reduced products is still rather small and took shape only in the past few years, starting in Great Britain and the nordic countries. More and more countries are now elaborating dietetics programs following the objective to reduce the overall daily salt intake. This is because of the assumption that people are consuming too much sodium in general, which has never been proved by research.

Balance® Salt addresses all health-conscious consumers who want to cut down their daily intake of salt.

Salt for Europe

esco - european salt company, a member of the K+S Group, is Europe's leading salt producer. With corporate headquarters in Hanover, Germany, the company operates a total of 19 production sites and sales offices in Germany, Czech Republic, Poland, Sweden, The Netherlands, Belgium, France, Italy, Spain and Portugal, from where it supplies customers in Europe and beyond.

With a production of more than 5 million tons of rock salt, evaporated salt and sea salt per year, esco offers a comprehensive range of high quality salt products including pharmaceutical and food-grade salt as well as salt tablets and compacted salt for water softening. Furthermore, the product portfolio includes industrial and de-icing salt, brine and salt for various chemical uses.

In 2006, the company posted revenues of approx. Euro 400 mio., with a total workforce of ca. 1,400 employees.