Romaqua Group, one of the largest Romanian businesses, was the biggest employer in the beverage production sector in 2016, with almost 2,000 employees at the end of the year, Labor Inspection Department data show.
The Romanian company remains the biggest employer in the industry, where the multinationals like Coca-Cola HBC and Heineken generate the highest revenues. Romaqua Group, whose brands include Borsec, Gusto and Albacher, has plants in Bucharest (plastic preforms), Busteni (Aquatique and Giusto), Borsec (Borsec natural mineral water and some of the Giusto packaging), Stanceni (Stanceni water) and Lancram, Alba (Albacher, Dorfer beers).
The second biggest employer on a market that stands at EUR2 billion a year is Coca-Cola HBC Romania, which had almost 1,500 employees last year. The company let about 1,000 people go during the crisis, according to Finance Ministry data. Coca-Cola HBC Romania is the largest actor on the beverage market by revenue, and has three plants in Ploiesti, Timisoara and Vatra Dornei.
The economic crisis affected the entire industry, so most businesses chose to shed jobs in a time of significant consumption decline. About 16,000 people were working in the industry in 2015, 9,000 fewer than in 2008, ZF has calculated based on Finance Ministry data.
While Romaqua kept the same number of employees as at the onset of the crisis, beer market leader Ursus Breweries and European Drinks of Micula Brothers did not.
However, personnel cutbacks have lessened and in some cases companies started hiring, which means end of restructuring in the beverage industry. Consumption of non-alcoholic ready to drink beverages and of spirits was up last year, beer consumption was flat while wine consumption went down, market data show. However, the latest market data show higher revenue for most companies in the beverage industry.
The ten largest employers in the beverage industry had almost 9,500 employees at the end of last year, over 100 more than in the previous year, ZF has calculated from Labor Inspection Department data. The ten companies shed about 1,500 to 2,000 jobs during the crisis, according to ZF’s calculations. Only one winemaker is among the largest businesses in the beverage industry, Vincon Vrancea, held by Luchi Georgescu. Vincon had more than 400 employees at the end of last year. The largest employer in the beer industry is Dutch-held Heineken, which owns four plants in Romania.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)