US consumer goods giant Procter & Gamble will achieve a total turnover of $500 million on the Romanian market in the next five years provided the economy maintains its current rate of growth, said Werner Geissler, P&G's president for Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Asia.
"Romania had the highest growth of all the countries in the region, and if this trend maintains, our business in Romania and the investments made here will also increase," explained Geissler at the inauguration of the new P&G headquarters in Iride Business Park in Bucharest.
For the fiscal year 2003-2004, the P&G subsidiary in Romania achieved a $150 million turnover, with sales increasing by an average of 15% a year in recent years.
These results prompted P&G to invest in expanding the production capacity of its detergent factory in Timisoara. Its exports to Serbia, Albania and the other Balkan countries have increased significantly.
"The investment began in September and we halted production in order to carry out the expansion works. The capacity of the factory in Timisoara will increase by some 15%-20% to 60,000 tonnes of detergents a year," Matthew Price, Procter & Gamble Romania chief executive said.
Procter & Gamble acquired the detergent factory in Timisoara in 1995 and has made direct investment in the factory of over $35 million. The factory currently employs 330 people and makes Ariel, Tide and Bonux washing powder and the Ace whitener. More than 50% of the Timisoara facility's output is exported to Serbia, Montenegro, Russia, Bulgaria, Bosnia, the Republic of Moldova and the Ukraine.
"Consumption has started to rise considerably in the other Balkan countries too, particularly in Serbia and Albania, where there is tremendous export potential, considering that the current bilateral trade volum
