Spanish investments in Romanian agriculture

Low land prices and the possibility of attracting non-reimbursable funds through European programmes are the main reasons why increasingly more foreign companies are investing in Romanian agriculture. After having poured about two million euros in vegetal production and animal farming, Spain’s Bardeau Holding, headquartered in Timisoara, is planning to expand by setting up new processing units. The two million euros were used for the acquisition of both farmland and equipment, and to repair several animal-housing facilities. “We got our first crop this year, which we will use to feed the animals. The surplus will be destined to the domestic market,” company officials were quoted as saying by Mediafax. The company owns 14 animal farms, but only some are populated. The farms count 3,000 sheep and 250 cows, with their number due to increase to 5,000 and 2,500, respectively, over the next few years. The company is planning to build a milk processing plant next year, to use the milk from the animal farms. The investment is worth about one million euros and will be secured from the firm’s own resources, as well as through some international financing programmes. ZF