The chocolate factory in Brasov closes its gates

Newsroom 23/08/2010 | 13:28

The Poiana chocolate factory in Brasov closed its gates for good. This was the first investment of Kraft Foods in Romania and was closed after the last two production lines were transferred in a plant owned by RAR Group, a former supplier of equipments for Kraft. RAR Group has started production for Kraft in a new location in Ghimbav, Brasov county.

Kraft announced at the end of 2008 that it would close the production unit in Poiana and would lay off 440 employees over the next year because the location of the chocolate factory in Brasov did not offer conditions for expansion.

In 2009, Kraft decided to keep part of its local production in Romania, which it outsourced to RAP Group, owned by businessman Radu Popeia.

Most of the production lines of the Poiana plant were transferred at the end of last year in a production unit of Kraft Foods in Bulgaria. At the moment, most products that are sold by the company in Romania are imported.

This year, Kraft Foods also sold the Cadbury operations in Romania to investment fund Oryxa Capital, but did not specify the value of the transaction. The sale included the brands in the Kandia- Excelent portfolio and the production unit in Bucharest where there were approximately 530 employees. This sale was a result of the European Commission’s approval of the acquisition of Cadbury by Kraft Foods, with the condition that the Cadbury operations in Romania and Poland would be dropped.