This year, marked by the economic crisis, with effects on the income of the population, and implicitly on sales, has led major producers to apply restructuring programs, which include giving up certain assets. As such, Dragos Frumosu, President of the Federation of Trade Unions in the Food Industry (FSIA), estimates that 15-20 percent of food industry players will be forced to halt their activities by the end of the year. “Some 15-20 percent of the 15,000 companies in the food industry will leave the arena as a result of financial difficulties encountered. One advantage could be the fact that the market will be swept clean also of companies whose activities were less legal, so the black market will drop,” according to a declaration for Business Standard by Frumosu.
The dairy industry has also faced financial problems, with a 20 percent decline in the first three months. It bounced back in the second quarter, due to companies applying aggressive price drops of up to 30 percent. Two dairy companies, Gouda Gold from Sibiu County and Brailact from Braila County, were obliged to resort to legal reorganization due to their impossibility to pay off their debts.
