US giant P&G will invest more than 100 million dollars in a personal care products factory near Ploiesti, which will supply European markets.
The P&G factory will at first create 300 jobs and production is scheduled to begin in 2010. "Romania, due to its stable economic conditions and to its strategic geographical location, close to fast-developing markets in Central and Eastern Europe, is a very good location for investments. The factory in Urlati (near Ploiesti) is the first greenfield investment that P&G will make in Romania and will supply European markets," Procter & Gamble representatives in Romania stated.
The company yesterday signed the contract for a 25 hectare plot in Urlati, which is part of the Ploiesti Industrial Park.
P&G chose Ploiesti after having analysed several locations in Romania, Poland and Russia for about a year. It had two Romanian locations, Ploiesti and Timisoara, on its list. The latter city is actually where the company has a detergent and bleaches factory that it bought from the state in 1995.
Ploiesti is the headquarters for the local manufacturing operations of several FMGC multinationals, such as Coca-Cola Hellenic, Unilever and InBev (Bergenbier).
The biggest competitor of Procter & Gamble, Unilever, started to merge its local production facilities on the industrial site in Ploiesti in 2006, dropping its factories in Targu Mures and Otopeni. The reorganisation of the local production of Unilever included construction of a foods factory in the location, and this is also where it relocated its margarine factory from Bulgaria.
Investments in the Procter & Gamble factory in Timisoara reached 40 million dollars since its takeover, according to the data provided by the company. Approximately 50% of the output of the P&G factory n Timisoara is exported to eight countries in the Balkans, and c