“Kraft Foods is currently carrying out negotiations with a local company that wishes to take over a production line. In the event the deal is concluded, then the Brasov company will produce the Smash chocolate bar and the Chokotoff chocolates for Kraft,” Raluca Coltea, trade union leader at the Kraft Foods Romania factory located in Brasov, told Business Standard. According to market sources, the RapTronic company, which plans to take over a production line from Kraft, is an enterprise with full Romanian capital, which specializes in developing equipment and technologies for the food industry, and has provided the service for the Kraft Foods Romania factory for years.
Last November, Kraft Foods announced its decision to close the Brasov chocolate factory by the end of 2009, and to transfer production to Kraft’s Bulgarian unit. Kraft Foods Romania’s sales are estimated to have exceeded $240 million (€164 mln) in 2008, based on the growth rate reported by the company.
The value of the local sweets market amounted to RON 1.17 billion (€318 mln) in 2008, according to the Nielsen market research company, up 27.7 percent year-on-year.
