“Investments are aimed at expanding the production area of the plant as demand for Heidi Chocolat products is constantly rising. The increase mainly results from the international growth of Heidi brand, which has accelerated in the past five years,” said Radu Moldovan-Petrut, marketing manager of Heidi Chocolat.
The company last year generated revenue of around 78 million lei (almost EUR18 million).
The manager says the company is still analyzing the costs of expansion and would not specify any figure on the value of investments. Nevertheless, investments can be estimated at several million euros.
In June 2013, Kex Confectionary, the company through which the Meinl family controls the two large local chocolate producers, Heidi Chocolat and Kandia Dulce, got an EUR11.5 million capital inflow.
Heidi Chocolat owns one of the two large chocolate plants of Romania and this investment comes as the number of chocolate production units has dwindled in recent years.
At the same time, sweets consumption has come to be around 60% covered from imports, as companies such as Mondelez (maker of Milka and Poiana brands) or Feleacul Cluj-Napoca closed down their plants.
In recent years, amid the crisis and falling consumption in Romania, Heidi Chocolat has focused on international markets. Thus, at present, over 50% of the company’s revenue comes from exports, with Heidi brand reaching around 50 countries.
“In 2013, the production volume was around 60% higher than in 2008, while the weight of exports had soared from around 8% to over 50% of the total output in the same period,” Radu Moldovan-Petrut also said.
“Heidi will launch further new products in the following period. All the products will be launched under the Heidi brand”.
(English version by Catalina Apostoiu)