Sace, Italy’s export credit agency, has guaranteed a loan from the People’s Bank Emilia Romagna (BPER) to jam maker Zuegg.

The €1.5mn loan will be used for the purchase of a new packaging line of products for the German and Austrian markets as well as advertising.

“The aim of this loan is to strengthen the company’s presence in the European market,” a spokesperson for Zeugg tells GTR.

The company produces jam and fruit juices for a number of European markets from its six plants, two in Italy, two in Germany, one in Russia and one in France.

Sace has in the past supported the growth plans of Zuegg abroad, guaranteeing a loan of €14mn for the construction of a production plant in Russia in 2010.

Mario Bruni, head of the Florence office of Sace, comments: “These actions confirm the commitment of Sace to support the investment capacity of the Italian companies in the agri-food sector – a promising sector of the Made in Italy brand.”

“The aim is to work alongside the companies that have the need to strengthen their processes of internationalisation, to cope with the pursuit of a complicated situation economic,” Corrado Savigni, head of northern territories for BPER, adds.