Wrigley chewing gum could be produced in Romania in 2 or 3 years

US-based Wrigley, a chewing gum maker, is planning to build a factory in Romania. The size of the productive facility could not be specified for the moment, but the investments were estimated to amount to $30-50 million, Mihai Georgescu, Wrigley Romania general manager, told Ziarul Financiar.

“A Wrigley factory is a high-output unit, therefore the products of the new factory in Romania will also be exported.

We do not know yet how much we will export, because we have no concrete and final plans in this regard. Neither the location has been chosen yet, but it has to be most accessible to the distribution means.

At any rate, the moment this investment will be made depends on the development of the market in Romania, too.

In 1991, when we started the business in Romania, the consumption of such products was very low. It has been making slow and steady progress since then, though. Now the chewing gum consumption is two times lower than in the nearby countries and four to five times lower than in Western Europe and the USA, but we’re estimating our products to grow at the same rate as until now,” Mihai Georgescu added.

Wrigley Romania in 2000 had 420bn lei in turnover (about $21 million) and an operating profit of 67bn lei, registering a 14% increase in sales volume, as compared with 1999. Its share of the Romanian chewing gum market amounts to 93%, according to an ACNielsen survey.

“In 2001, the company is planning to have sales increase by about 14-15% and launch four new products on the Romanian market. Two of these products are already available in Europe, while the remaining two will be released in the entire Europe at the same time,” Georgescu explained.

Another new thing is completing the works on the company’s own office building for its Romanian-based business. “We have already bought the land, located in the North of Bucharest (the lakes area), and we’re hoping to get all the licences we need for starting the construction from the municipality as soon as possible.

This investment would amount to circa $2 million, while the investments already made in Romania reached $5.5 million,” Georgescu added.

The company’s core business is selling and merchandising the products imported mainly from France, Poland and England. The company’s sales team is comprised of 122 people in charge of supervising the presentation of the 26 types of chewing gum.

Wrigley Romania has 102,000 POS-es and its own distribution network comprised of about 500 sales agents.

“Ever since coming to Romania and until last year, we have had one or two national product dealers. Our concern for a better distribution made us create our own network consisting of 19 local (regional) dealers, so we’re covering the entire country now,” Georgescu explained.