Murfatlar witnesses 40% increase in grape production

Murfatlar, one of the leading players on the local wine market, estimates a turnover worth 36-40 million dollars (28.5-31.7 million euros) for 2006, a 20% increase against last year, when turnover stood at 30 million dollars (24 million euros). Thanks to the favourable weather and an increase in the size of the company’s vineyard to over 3,000 hectares, Murfatlar production increased by almost 40%, from 18 thousand tonnes processed for the whole of 2005 to 25 thousand tonnes of grapes this year. “Production has definitely been higher than last year, mainly due to 2006 being such a good year for wine making. This autumn’s crop alone has generated a production of 14 million litres of wine,” stated Cosmin Popescu, chief executive of Murfatlar. Twenty percent of production goes to export, to 15 countries worldwide, including important foreign markets such as the United States of America, Israel, UK, Germany, Finland, Denmark, Russia and more recently China’s Hong Kong market.