Bocaniciu also said that although the company would be producing other brands, there is no plan to sell the assets.

Reinert, which came onto the domestic cold meats market last year, presently has an annual 10,000-12,000 ton production capacity, although its own production amounts to only 2,000-2,500 tons. Bocaniciu said that Reinert wants to increase its production in future, based on market evolution, but its production capacity will allow it to produce also for other companies.

The Romanian cold meats market amounts to some 230,000 tons annually, worth over €1 billion (delivery prices). Main players are Cris-Tim, Caroli, Aldis Calarasi, Elit and Campofrio.

Market sources indicated for Business Standard that Campofrio wants to produce its own brands in the Brasov County factory because of the delay in the construction of its production unit in Buftea. Campofrio’s management announced last year that it intends to open a cold meats and semi-prepared foods factory in 2009, following an investment worth some €20 million, whose inauguration was initially planned for 2008. Once the Buftea factory is opened, the company’s Tulcea unit will continue as a slaughterhouse and some production.

The Spanish Campofrio company has been in Romania since 1998, when it acquired the Tabco meet producer in Tulcea. Campofrio Alimentacion shareholders include the American pork meat producer Smithfield, which has been involved in the largest acquisitions on the domestic market in recent years.

Reinert completed an investment worth over €15 mln in its Feldioara factory last year, which represents one of the top greenfield investments in the meat processing area. In the nine months in 2007 since it has been present on the Romanian market, Reinert reported €3 mln in turnover, and forecasts some €10 mln for 2008.