Colgate halts production of Super Cristal

Colgate-Palmolive is to cease making toothpaste at its Brasov factory as part of a larger restructuring programme that will see the closure of four toothpaste factories in Europe, international press agencies say. The restructuring process will take two years.

Colgate is the only multinational company with toothpaste production facilities in Romania.

The other plants to be restructured include those in Anzio in Italy, Gebze in Turkey and Salford in Great Britain.

The plant in Britain will be shut down completely, while the other three will continue manufacturing other products.

Toothpaste production in the region will continue at a single plant.

The restructuring programme will last two years, costing 85 million dollars (70 million euros), and involve over 400 redundancies.

Colgate took over the Brasov plant in 1992 and re-launched its Super Cristal brand targeted at medium and low-income consumers.

Super Cristal ranks third on the market after Colgate, the main brand sold by Colgate-Palmolive, and Blend-a-Med, which belongs to Procter & Gamble. Colgate also manufactures its Norvea face cream and Damaris aftershave at the plant.

Last December, Colgate, the leader on the global toothpaste market, announced a 12% reduction in staff and the closure of a third of its production facilities in an attempt to limit the impact of the higher cost of raw materials.

The company also suffered in Western Europe, where the emergence of new companies offering large discounts persuaded many consumers to switch from prestigious brands to cheaper alternatives. Representatives of the Romanian company made no comment on this issue.

The US company currently sells two Colgate brands on the local market, both of which are imported, as well as the Super Cristal brand, which is produced in Brasov. With its two brands, Colgate is the leader of the Romanian toothpaste market with a share of almost 60%.

In line with the latest company data published on the website of the Ministry of Public Finances, 2003 saw Colgate generate a turnover of 35 million euros, representing a slight increase year-on-year. In 2003, profits reached 4.4 million euros, up from 4 million euros the previous year. The company is yet to release its figures for last year. Colgate has around 300 employees in Romania. georgiana.stavarache@zf.ro