French vegetable processor Bonduelle has acquired Hungarian cannery Kelet-Food for an undisclosed fee.

In a statment released today, (1 February) Bonduelle said it made the acquisition to boost its agro-industry interests in Central Europe.

Budapest-based Kelet-Food has a capacity of 25,000 to 30,000 tonnes and produces canned sweetcorn and peas brands for the domestic and neighbouring international markets. It is currently in liquidation because of excessive inventories resulting from the 2008 financial crisis, poor production in 2010 and rising agricultural raw materials prices in 2011, Bonduelle said.

A Bonduelle spokesperson said: "The current weakness of the Hungarian forint makes this operation particularly accretive, because of its impact on the purchase price on the one hand and competitiveness of production on the other."

The acquisition remains subject to approval by competition authorities. Last month Bonduelle agreed a deal to buy the Russian operations of fellow French food company CECAB.