Romania: European Food & Drinks’ owned brewery in Draganesti becomes the largest in the country

The brewery in Draganesti (Bihor county), one of European Food's assets, tripled its production capacity to an annual volume of 5 million hectolitres this year, which makes it the largest brewery in Romania at the moment. As a comparison, the beer consumption amounted to 15.2 million hectolitres last year, Ziarul Financiar posted November 07.

Ioan Micula said he received propositions to purchase several beer production facilities from Hungary, as well as from other countries in the region, but a decision was made to invest in the facility in Draganesti, so as to ensure a synergy within European Food & Drinks group.

"The brewery is one of the main assets owned by European Food & Drinks. It was appraised at some €400 million by one of the major banks in Romania this autumn," Ioan Micula, the chairman of European Group, who owns European Food & Drinks group together with Viorel Micula, told Ziarul Financiar.

The brewery owned by the group started production in 2003, with an initial capacity of 1 million hectolitres, but it will be officially opened next year. Ioan Micula estimated investments worth some 100 million euros at the end of last year, to boost the factory's production capacity, from 1 million hectolitres to 3.5 million hectolitres per year, which means that the amount earmarked so far by European Food & Drinks to strengthen its position on the beer segment, tops 200 million euros.

Ioan Micula argues the beer production facility has been built according to high standards, but with low costs, because they chose the right moment to start the project.

"Since we started the works at the beer factory, the price of construction materials has risen at least three times," stated Ioan Micula. The beer brands owned by the group are Burger, Servus, Meister and Dracula.

The investments made to boost the production capacity could continue, because the group will also export a lot of its output, according to the group's representative.

"We have a 100 million-people market around us that we want to tap into," added Ioan Micula.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has recently approved a syndicated loan worth €250 million for European Drinks. The European Food & Drinks group, whose consolidated turnover stands at more than €600 million, is the largest group in the domestic food industry.

E-malt.com, the global information source for the brewing and malting industry professionals. The bi-weekly E-malt.com Newsletters feature latest industry news, statistics in graphs and tables, world barley and malt prices, and other relevant information. Click here to get full access to E-malt.com. If you are a Castle Malting client, you can get free access to E-malt.com website and publications. Contact us for more information at marketing@castlemalting.com .