Stiri	Stiri afaceri	Stiri companii	Evenimente de afaceri

Economic crisis forces companies to relocate to and from Romania

The current economic and financial crisis constrains companies to relocate their activity to some other countries, where production can be achieved at lower levels of spending. In a period when companies as Kraft Foods or Colgate-Palmolive announced their withdrawal from Romania, there are also other companies which, on the contrary, plan to enter the domestic market, where they hope to have greater development opportunities than in the West. Investors from Germany, Italy, Spain and The Netherlands are now scouting the market to assess conditions in which they can relocate their businesses here, Saptamana financiara reports.

Multinationals such as Kraft Foods and Colgate-Palmolive close down their factories in Romania, relocating activity in other countries. Coca-Cola as well is on the verge of giving up its production unit in Iasi (north-east) in the favor of a new one opened in Chisinau, the Republic of Moldova.

American Colgate-Palmolive Co. is to close down its factory in Brasov (center) mid-December, when the final stage of redundancies is to be finalized, following of the relocation of its entire production to Poland.

In its turn, sweets and coffee producer Kraft Foods Romania announced it was going to close down its factory in Brasov and to relocate the production to Bulgaria. 'For the time being, we do not set a deadline for the latest redundancies, but we estimate mid-December', stated Gabriela Popescu, Legal manager Colgate-Palmolive Romania. She also said that the factory will be closed down due to a larger restructuring program of the company, aimed at its global reorganization and consolidation of its activity.

In contrast to the American corporation in ongoing restructuring, Kraft will leave Romania because it developed too much and does not find sufficient space for expansion.

On the other hand, in the last period, delegations of some companies from Germany, Italy, Spain and The Netherlands had meetings with local administration officials and representatives of the business communities in order to establish how to relocate, Romania being included into the short list of locations targeted for the continuation of production.

According to the source, a team of Brasov Chamber of Commerce is to visit German Gelsenkirchen zone, where several companies in the field of auto parts operate, which might be interested in construction of production units in Brasov.

'Mayor of German Dorsten locality, Gelsenkirchen province, has already visited Romania, with the mandate from businessmen in his administrative zone to seek good locations for raising new plants. Talks have just started, but the Germans say Brasov has all chances to attract these investments. The economic crisis is deepening there and they meet big difficulties in running their businesses', pointed out Carol Ambrus, Management board member of Brasov Chamber of Commerce.

In his turn, prefect of Brasov County Emil Nita underscored that every initiative of this kind benefits of local authorities' support, given that there are many industrial parks with available land for such investments, as well as well trained work force the new companies could attract.

In Bucharest as well, at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry headquarters, several meetings with businessmen from Spain took place. Iberian companies are mainly attracted by the constructions field, but also seek to get involved into business linked to the energy sector.

Eduardo Olivares Cospedal, representative of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry Granada, thinks the sole way to escape the crisis for the Spanish companies is to re-orientate their businesses to Central and Eastern Europe. Romania is one of the countries with potential from this point of view, its European Union member status placing it among the favorites.

In their turn, Italian and Dutch companies are interested in Romania. As such, Lattonedil Co. from Italy, specialized in the production of thermo-isolating panels, builds a unit in Iasi County, based on an investment of eight million euros.

As well, the Dutch from Zwanenberg Food Group announced they will allocate 30 million euros to the construction of a canned food factory close to Iasi (north-east).

Still reduced labor force costs and an advantageous taxation system in Romania are among the factors attracting the large producers of electronic components on the domestic market, according to a study conducted by research and consultancy firm Technology Forecasters. Among this kind of companies, already present in Romania, there are Celestica, Elcoteq, Flextronics and Nokia which started this year mobile phone production in its new plant in Cluj County (center-west).

But analysts say that the relocations wave to the eastern part of the continent is starting just now. The economic crisis already pushes the companies towards those states where production can be achieved at lower spending levels. And Romania, an EU member, offers several advantages by comparison to the other states in the region.

 

Sursa: http://www.rompress.ro

Tags: companies romania production brasov other their relocate economic crisis

Articole similare