The businessman also owns the Albora slaughterhouse in Ialomita, southern Romania, which posted EUR0.2 million revenue last year.
“We can also see an increase in milk production, but we are still in the red, we bought the farm, which was in a very difficult situation, the cattle had not been fed, there were only 12 straw bales in the entire farm. Only a crazy man like me could have taken this path. But I don’t regretting buying the farm,” Boraciu said.
The businessman got the farm after Israeli dairy producer Tnuva decided to leave Romania. The company that operated it went insolvent once the Tnuva left and Boraciu got it in an auction where he paid EUR1.3 million for it, an 80% discount of the initial price. The money did not go to the former Israeli owners but to creditors, such as BRD and Banca Romaneasca.
“The first results usually start showing after eight or ten months but we are still in the red now.”
At the time of its takeover, the farm produced 4,000 liters of milk per day and managers said production could triple if the cows were fed properly.
The businessman says he has not needed any infrastructure investments since the bought the farm and only focused on keeping the cattle on a proper diet to be able to boost milk production.
“I’ve invested somewhere in the neighborhood of 200,000 lei (EUR45,000 i.e.) in feed, I think. It’s been a really tiresome year, I’ve practically moved to the farm.”
The entire milk production of the plant goes to Lactag Pitesti, one of the top 20 local dairy producers, held by Robert Iriza and Adriean Asan-Mic.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)