Bergenbier's Blaj brewery stays closed

Bergenbier, the third largest brewer domestically, has decided to extend the period during which the Blaj brewery stays closed, after it announced it would halt production for six months last October, until March 2010, and the 110 employees would go into technical unemployment. The company's representatives maintain, though, they will not operate layoffs, but extend the technical unemployment period for the 110 employees. "We'll reopen the brewery when the beer market registers sustainable volume growth, and the capacity of Ploiesti brewery proves insufficient to meet consumer demand. This largely depends on the economic environment, as well as on Romanian consumers regaining their confidence. In the first three months of this year, the beer market showed no signs of recovering," Mihai Ghyka, general manager of Bergenbier, a company owned by CVC Capital Partners private equity fund, told ZF. The Alba county facility in 2008 brewed over one million hectolitres of beer, around 30% of the production of former InBev Romania and 5% of overall domestic beer output, according to ZF estimates.