Romanian meat processor Zimbria has announced plans to invest some €1m (1.03m) to set up a new facility in Galati, Romania. The meat processing facility will enable the company to process 2 tonnes (t) of meat per day.
Under the plan, Zimbria will construct the new facility with using the funds it aims to secure from the Europan Union (EU).
“This year, we purchased a land plot of 4,000 square metres in close proximity of Galati,” Marius Verdes, the company’s founder, told local business daily Ziarul Financiar. “If work on the project progress as planned, we will present its final design in March 2017.”
Galati is located in eastern Romania.
The meat processor specialises in pork and poultry. In addition to its existing meat processing plant, Zimbria owns five retail outlets in Romania, located in Brăila, Galaţi and Bucharest. The company is owned by the Verdeşi family.
Menawhile, another local meat processor, Carmangeria Sannicoara, recently launched a new plant able to process 28t of meat per week. The investment, worth close to €700,000 ($727,00), allowed the company to raise its meat processing capacity by 20%. Located in Cluj-Napoca, Romania’s north-east, where the company already operates a plant, the new facility was fitted with a floorspace of 840 square metres.
Carmangeria Sannicoara will make a wide range of processed pork, poultry and beef products at its second plant. These will comprise hamburgers, sausages, frankfurters and others, according to the firm. Carmangeria Sannicoara’s portfolio includes a total of 160 products which also comprise hams, salamis and smoked meat products.
Market demand on the rise
Company representatives claim Carmangeria Sannicoara has been planning to expand its output capacity since 2015, when it noticed domestic demand for processed meat products was forecast to grow. Earlier this year, Florin Rizea, the chief executive of local meat processor Meda Prod 98, said that the country’s meat consumption is expected to expand in the coming years as a result of the government’s decision to cut the value-added tax (VAT) on meat from 24% to 9%.
“Increasing our production capacity was a necessity, and we received the first signals from the market last year. The market demand requires us to invest in our development,” Cosmin Moldovan, the chief executive of Carmangeria Sannicoara, told local news site Wall-Street.ro.
Asked about the company’s expansion plans, Moldovan said that “there will be further investments”.
Carmangeria Sannicoara was set up in 1994 by local businessman Stefan Moldovan and his son Cosmin. Currently, the company’s two meat processing plants in Romania are operated by a total workforce of 248. In addition to this, Carmangeria Sannicoara owns a cattle farm with 230 head, and a network of 28 retail stores located in Cluj-Napoca and neighbouring municipalities.