European Food marking its territory on wafers market

Several months ago, Hay 2000 Company, part of the Alka Concern was announcing its plans to open a biscuit and wafer factory in atei, a small town in Bihor County. They bought the buildings, they brought in equipment and hired workers, with the production scheduled to begin in August. However, after spending $2.8 million, the investor changed its mind and dropped its plans for atei.

The two buildings, bought from Compania Nationala a Uraniului (National Uranium Company) were put up for sale and the 200 workers found themselves jobless. The state-of-the-art productive lines and equipment were taken apart and shipped to Bucharest, where Alka has another factory.

The technical manager Paul Mihailov says he does not know the reasons for such a sudden change in attitude, as “the decision was made by the bosses in Bucharest.” Vice-mayor Marius Popa in his turn claims he has no idea as to why the investors decided to back out from atei. The local administration leaders are planning to contact Alka representatives to persuade them to change their mind, the vice-mayor says.

“It is too far away, the roads are killing us, we’re simply ruining our cars transporting whatever we produce in atei to the rest of the country… One more thing, though.

European Food has built some huge factories, they get huge credits, while I invest my own money. I’ve never taken a loan in my whole life… Micula Brothers are very powerful, it’s not worth losing money to fight them, so I’d better get back to my business…” says Heinrich Krenzia, the owner of Alka.

A foodstuffs factory held by European Food, division of the European Drinks, run by the Micula Brothers has been operating in atei ever since mid last year. This is where the wafers released on the market in March this year are made, as well as several biscuit types.

“I don’t know why Alka chose to give up producing biscuits and wafers in Bihor County. It may have been a wise decision, as it is not easy to make your products 500 kilometres away from Bucharest. Furthermore, this entails skilled workers, which are not easy to find here,” Viorel Micula, one of the European Drinks chairmen told Ziarul Financiar.

“Maybe this whole thing is just like that old proverb Brancusi used to quote: “There’s no room for little trees under the shadow of big trees.” Anyway, we feel competition is good for us, as it stimulates us,” he added.

Hay 2000 was supposed to invest some $10 million in atei, according to the area manager. The investments in buildings, imported equipment and machinery and the necessary know-how already amounted to some $2.8 million. However, the company is planning to open two more factories in Filipestii de Padure to produce raw material for the foodstuffs industry, with $15 million scheduled to be allotted for this project.