The producer initially planned to open the plant in the first half of this year.
“A company delegate came to us a year ago and we got acquainted. Since then, they have given no sign and for the time being we know nothing,” Iosif Nastase, deputy mayor of Popesti Leordeni, told ZF.
Sutas representatives did not answer ZF’s request for information on the company’s strategy in Romania and on its short-term plans about the plant near Bucharest.
In 2013, the Turkish company took the dairy market by surprise after it took over, in a complex deal put at EUR10 million, the former Tnuva plant and voiced its intention to resume production and hire 500 people.
Sutas, a group with revenue of $600 million per year, was set to make investments to revamp the plant and restart production in early 2014 at the latest, according to information that emerged shortly after the deal was announced.
“Sutas is developing a project in Macedonia that has lasted more than it had estimated. The project will be completed in 1-2 months and probably in three or four months the company is likely to move its team to Romania, but production at the dairy plant of Popesti Leordeni will not start earlier than the beginning of next year,” stated sources close to the company.
In the second half of last year, the Turkish company registered the domestic company Balkan Dairy and brought the first EUR10 million to the company’s capital through a loan from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
Former Tnuva plant will stay closed this year, too, though the Turkish company initially announced its intention to rapidly start the engines of the unit and was set to be a serious rival for French Danone.
For the Turkish company, Romania is a strategic stake as it’s a gateway to other EU markets. The company initially announced it planned to build an integrated business model, starting from animal farms, to the end products sold on store shelves.
On the EUR800 million dairy market of Romania, Sutas will vie with multinationals Danone, Olympus and Friesland Campina, as well as with Romanian players such as Albalact or Lactag.
(English version by Catalina Apostoiu)