Charcuterie producer CrisTim, the largest player on the local processed meat market, which posted an operating income worth 10.5 million euros last year, has closed a partnership with Tulip Food Company, a member of the Danish Crown Group, with annual turnover worth 6 billion euros.

At the end of last year, CrisTim, owned by Radu Timis and his wife, launched 11 products manufactured in Denmark and Germany by Tulip Food Company, but developed under the CrisTim brand.

"In addition to Tulip Food products, CrisTim will also produce traditional Romanian varieties for various European markets. We will be able to start as soon as the export ban on charcuterie produced in Romania is lifted," said Gabriel Alexandru, vice-president of CrisTim.

The collaboration between CrisTim and Danish Crown goes back several years, with the Danish group being one of the Romanian producer's suppliers. "At the beginning of 2006, we talked about extending the collaboration with other companies within the Danish Crown group. Talks with Tulip about potential areas of joint interest started in the first quarter of 2006, and resulted in the actual signing of a partnership one and a half years later in the last quarter of 2007," added Alexandru.

According to previous information, confirmed by Radu Timis, CrisTim was in negotiations with Danish Crown to sell a minority stake. In fact, CrisTim's owner has repeatedly confirmed that, in the past, he has held talks with representatives of the Spanish group Campofrio and with German-based Reinert, in order to identify business development opportunities. The businessman, however, said he did not intend to give up control of his charcuterie business.

The charcuterie range "Gusturi Europene" (European Tastes), produced in the Tulip plants, is an established CrisTim project, which involved the development of varieties that are s