Dobrogea Grup starts biscuit production for Unilever

Milling and bakery industry player Dobrogea Grup has completed an over 7 million-euro investment in a new mill and a bread-making production line. The company has begun producing for multinationals, such as Unilever, and is considering other partnerships.

“After the investment in the mill was completed, we became the player with the largest milling capacity in the country on a single technology. The investment in the new production line consolidates our leading position on the market and has allowed us to cut the price of bread,” explained Otilia Stanciu, Dobrogea Grup marketing manager.

The company has invested 3.6 million euros in upgrading one of its three mills and another 3 million euros in upgrading its 30 tonne/day bread-making line.

Earlier this year Dobrogea opened a plant for biscuit production with a capacity of 600 tonnes/year in the wake of a 4.2 million-euro investment. “We intend to become one of the top three producers of biscuits in Romania by the end of this year. We have our own brands, which we want to develop, and, we also started working with Unilever for their Delma brand and will begin producing Elite,” Stanciu said. Dobrogea”s main biscuit brands are Eugenia and Digesta. Entry by the two big players on the biscuit market confirms the trend seen over the last twelve months for many new players to enter the market – including Turkey”s Ulker, which announced a 9 million-dollar investment in a facility near Bucharest, and chocolate maker Supreme, which completed a 2 million-euro investment in a biscuit production facility. The biscuit market has been dominated by cheap imports for the last few years, mainly from Turkey. Turkey is also the country of origin for a significant number of investors with production facilities in Romania.

The value of Dobrogea Grup”s investment this year will reach 11 million euros, including the two upgrading projects and the start of retooling works at the company”s wheat and flour silos.

“We intend to achieve 15% actual production growth this year. I don”t know yet how this growth will translate into value because I don”t know where sale prices will go,” Stanciu said.

stelian.negrea@zf.ro