Soufflet will begin producing malt in Buzau in Q1 2009

Initially, the company’s management announced that the factory will be completed by the end of this year’s second quarter. Some €60 million will be invested in the factory, whose annual production capacity amounts to approximately 105,000 tons, enough to supply the malt needed by two of the three major local beer producers.

The domestic market requires some 220,000 tons of malt annually, most of which is currently imported.

In October 2007, the French group announced that it would receive a €20 mln loan from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) for the construction of its Buzau factory.