The new plant is currently under construction and is 40-50% completed.
“The warehouses are done and the production facility will be completed this year. In 2014 and 2015 we’ll be dealing with the equipment and technology part,” company general manager Danut Vasile told MEDIAFAX.
The investment in this project amounts to EUR13-14 million, of which EUR7 million has already been spent.
The new production unit will have a surface 3,800 square meters and warehouses stretch onto 2,500 square meters.
“Production capacity will be nearly double. We’ll also enter new therapy lines. We already have 25 files pending approvals,” said Vasile.
Biofarm is also set to reorganize and develop its export department, targeting Russia and former soviet states.
“Our current exports are at around 3.5% of sales but exports are promising and have doubled from 2009 to 2012. We have focused on large markets such as Russia and Ukraine, where we sell and register products. In two years we want exports to reach 10% of sales,” the company official said.
Biofarm exports to the Republic of Moldova, Russia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Serbia, Kazakhstan, and Hungary and is set to start operations in Czech Republic and Slovakia.
“We have an office in the Republic of Moldova and if all goes well the next step will be to open one in Moscow. That will happen next year, I think,” said Vasile.
On the domestic market, between 2010 and 2012, when the market had an average growth rate of 10.33%, Biofarm’s average growth rate stood at 16.77%.
Vasile estimates the company will maintain a double-digit growth rate in the next years.
Biofarm has a portfolio of 200 products, covering 60 therapy areas and is among the top ten medicine producers in Romania by volume.
Last week, Biofarm’s shareholding structure changed as regional investment fund SIF Oltenia sold its stake for RON96.075 million to SIF Muntenia, which is indirectly controlled by SIF Banat-Crisana. SIF Banat Crisana thus indirectly holds a stake of 51% in the pharmaceutical company. Another large shareholder is SIF Moldova, with 13.3%.