Murfatlar targets new markets and increases exports in 2007

“Murfatlar registered EUR 19 million in turnover in the first half of 2007 and we are not including an increase in the price of wine in order to gain the EUR 42 million turnover we have planned by yearend,” said brand manager Daniel Negrescu.
The wine producer will invest EUR 4 million by 2008 in new wine-producing technologies as well as in replanting. “For the spring of 2008 we will invest 2.4 million in replanting 220 hectares of vineyards within the 3,000 hectares that the company owns,” said Cosmin Popescu, administrator of Murfatlar, explaining that the replanting plans do not include the expanding of the already existing vineyards. Murfatlar invested EUR 1.7 million in replanting in 2007, according to Popescu.
As the new European Union stipulates the interdiction of planting hybrid strains, Popescu said that Murfatlar domains do not have such varieties in production and the replanting plans reflect adaptation to new consumption demands and opportunities. “We mostly plant for red varieties such as Feteasca Neagra, Cabernet Sauvignon and Pinot Noir, following the European example, but we also realized that the Romanian consumer has started to prefer the red variety too,” said Popescu. Murfatlar registered a turnover of EUR 36 million in 2006, and targets an increase to EUR 46 million for 2007, for a production of EUR 16 million liters yearly.
According to studies on the market, wine imports sold three times more than exports for H1 of 2007, with 28.9 liters imported compared to 11.2 million sold outside the borders. The main destinations for Romanian wine are Germany and Russia, with delivery to these countries representing half of the export total while Romania bought wine from Italy and Spain, according to the Wine Exporters and Producers Association.

Magda Purice