Friesland to double investment pace

The general manager of Friesland Foods Romania, the biggest player on the local dairy market, says the company will double its investment this year, to 6 million euros. “The investment is mainly aimed towards the plants in Baciu (Cluj county) and Targu Mures. Next year, we will probably reduce the pace of our investments, but we intend to direct these budgets towards marketing and not so much towards processing,” said Gerbrant de Boer. The company owns 7 dairy plants in Transylvania and Banat, in the retooling of which it has invested between 2 and 3 million euros each year. Increasing the production capacity is also a part of the company”s investment plan, and the general manager believes that big plants in Romania could double their capacity in the following period, as sales on the black market go down. “Romania is preparing for EU accession, but this stage brings strict rules regarding the milk offered to processors. The milk sold by many peasants is not yet compliant with the European standard (…).” ZF