Danone Romania, the local subsidiary of the French group by the same name, remained the market leader and ended the year with 481 million lei (EUR109 million) revenue, down 5% on the previous year and EUR1.1 million losses.
ZF took into account only fiscal entities and not groups.
The major change in the ranking was Dutch-held FrieslandCampina’s drop to third place, with Romanian-held Albalact taking the second place.
The Dutch group has three entities among the top ten, but did not provide information about its consolidated revenue in the country. The three entities – FrieslandCampina, Napolact and Industrializarea Laptelui Mures, posted EUR161 million revenue in 2013, EUR10 million less than in 2012.
The largest dairy companies in Romania by revenue are mostly foreign-held, with only two of the top ten owned by Romanian entrepreneurs.
Albalact, of the Ciurtin family, posted RON423 million lei revenue last year, 23% higher than in 2012. The Alba County-based producer also owns the Campulung Moldovenesc-based Raraul, whose revenue stood at EUR10 million. The two dairy producers of the Ciurtins will merge this year.
FrieslandCampina, whose brands include Napolact, Mili, Oke and Campina will keep only two plants operational next year of the seven they had in early 2007. The company announced several weeks ago it would relocate cheese production from its Carei (Satu Mare) plant to its Baciu (Cluj) plant in January 2015. This would be the fifth plant the group has closed in Romania. Plant closures also caused the loss of more than 300 jobs.
Fabrica de Lapte (Dairy Plant) Brasov, the local subsidiary of Greece’s Olympus, whose brands include Olympus and Oly moved to fourth among the largest producers, beating Hochland, the leader of the cheese segment. Fabrica de Lapte Brasov posted EUR55.5 million revenue last year, higher than Hochland’s EUR49 million.
On the other hand, Simultan, a company of entrepreneur Florin Herbai, posted the highest profit margin last year, almost 8%. The company Dorna Lactate, the largest that France’s Lactalis owns in Romania, does not have its financials published on the Finance Ministry’s website. The company closed three plants in the country last year.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)