Type
Relocation
Country
Bulgaria
Region
Severna Bulgaria; Severoiztochen; Dobrich
Location of affected unit(s)
NA
Sector
Manufacturing
Manufacture Of Food And Beverage
Manufacture Of Food Products
10.42 - Manufacture of margarine and similar edible fats

103 jobs
Number of planned job losses
Job loss
Announcement Date
28 March 2007
Employment effect (start)
17 May 2007
Foreseen end date
17 May 2007

Description

Anglo-Dutch consumer products giant Unilever announced the company will relocate the production of its Kaliakra margarine brand from Bulgaria to Romania to take better advantage of the neighbouring country's bigger population.

Unilever South Central Europe, the parent division of the company's Bulgarian unit, completed six months ago the expansion of a factory in Romanian city Ploiesti. The facility, which has been producing prominent brands like Rama and Knorr for years, will take over the production of the Kaliakra margarine after the closure of the Bulgarian plant in Dobrich.

The move was allegedly influenced by the Romanian executive director of the company Cristina LlIe. The Dobrich plant will terminate its operations on May 17, 2007.

Kaliakra and Rama have a 70% share of margarine sales in Bulgaria.

Unilever Group, which set a local representation here in 1999, generates 20 million EUR in annual sales on the Bulgarian market with food brands accounting for half of that performance.

The company bought the Kaliakra margarine business in 2003. The factory, with an annual capacity of 12,000 tons, sold its output exclusively on local market due to high export duties which made exports unprofitable.


Sources

Citation

Eurofound (2007), Kaliakra, Relocation in Bulgaria, factsheet number 65165, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/65165.