Wrigley, Orbit chewing gum producer, saw its sales advance by 30% in the first quarter of this year against the similar period of 2006, as a result of candy and chewing gum launches.

Wrigley Romania's sales in terms of volume rose by 21% in 2006 from the previous year.

The company, whose share of the chewing gum market stands at more than 95%, generated net income worth 10m euros last year, amid turnover of around 48m euros, according to its own data.

In terms of volume, Wrigley sales of chewing gum were 14% higher last year against 2005 domestically, compared with a 165% growth pace on the candy segment.

"The growth potential of non-gum segments on the Romanian market is very high. A market that, seen from outside, seemed small, has not attracted significant investments so far and this is why product categories are undeveloped. In the past year, we've seen sales even double along various candy categories (non-chocolate i.e.)," explains Mihai Georgescu, general manager with Wrigley Romania.

Wrigley has a 38% share of the Romanian candy market (not including pralines), up 8% against 2006, according to a Nielsen survey conducted in March and quoted by the company.

The biggest market shares on the candy segment are held by Winterfresh (17%), Solano (8%) and Juicy Fruit (7%), a brand that was launched in Romania last year.

Overall, candy generated sales worth above 8m euros for Wrigley Romania last year, after a period of around four years since the company had entered this segment.

However, Orbit is still Wrigley's best-selling brand in Romania, with a market share of 54% on the segment of non-chocolate sweets and biscuits, and 70% of the domestic chewing gum market, according to the Nielsen data quoted by the company.

Georgescu expects the chewing gum market to post a growth rate similar to the one registered last y