Green bills for soft paper

The market of paper products (toilet paper, tissues and paper towels) for household use, worth more than $22 million, is being disputed by increasingly more competitors, from Swedes and Moldavians to Greeks.

The fifth leading Greek company in this sector, Komotini Paper Mill, is planning to invest more than one million dollars in a productive unit in Romania by the end of the year, Theodoros Smyrloglou, Komotini project manager, told Ziarul Financiar.

This spring, Sweden-based SCA Hygiene Products, which sells the Zewa products, announced interest in investing more than $10 million in a productive unit in Romania, as well.

At the same time, the domestic producers are improving their offer: Vrancart Focsani, the leading local producer, started selling toilet paper wrapped in plastic bags with barcodes stamped on them in supermarkets, following an investment worth more than one million dollars.

The investments Komotini is planning to make in Romania, most likely in Ilfov, are covered by the company’s own resources, says Smyrloglou. Komotini estimates $1 million in turnover for its first year in business in Romania.

The factory will start with about 20 employees, but the number is scheduled to double once the production increases.

Komotini Paper Mill in 2000 made four million drachmae (some $10 million) in turnover, up 30% since 1999. Romania has become the Greek investors’ favourite place to invest over the past few years, with RomTelecom, Chipita, Best Foods, Sicomed, Loulis, Romsar, Alpha Bank Romania financial group, M. J. Maillis, Interamerican or Garanta as some of the largest.

At the moment, Komotini is considering several options to produce locally. “We are considering several factories already operating in Romania, but I think we will build our own in the end. We are now expecting the feasibility studies,” Smyrloglou says. The consultancy company hired by Komotini is IKKP Rokas&Partners.