Angst, one of the biggest charcuterie producers in Romania, has decided to halt construction of the pre-cooked food factory in Buftea, Ilfov County. This is but one of the investments that will be postponed this year as a result of the financial crisis.
"Whereas we invested five million euros last year, in 2009 the only such projects will pursue acquisition of new equipment and our store network. We decided to stop certain investments in progress, among which the construction of the new pre-cooked food factory in Buftea that required about 1.5 million euros," stated Sorin Minea, Angst chairman.
The representatives of Angst had announced they intended to build a pre-cooked food factory in Buftea through a SAPARD project as early as the beginning of last year. The start of construction works on the new facility had been initially planned for the end of 2008, but securing the necessary permits took a very long time so that it was eventually delayed for early 2009.
Angst officials had planned to make several other investments through the SAPARD projects, such as building a pet food facility and new cattle farms, all of which were postponed in 2009.
Angst is not the only charcuterie producer that either postponed or dropped investments planned for the first half of the year. Caroli Foods decided to push back the automation of its logistic platform for the second half of the year, while Fox Bucuresti dropped construction plans for the second factory and Aldis Calarasi could postpone ten million euros' worth of investments slated for this year, because of the harsher lending terms.
Angst's chairman added he would not resort to layoffs this year but he will not be able to afford wage raises this year, either.
"There's no way I could raise wages this year. Whereas a few months ago I needed people, now I am not looking any more," Minea says.
The official of the group said Angst's sales in December 2008 were down almost 2-3% compared with the same time of the previous year, and only its own chain was generating the same sales as in December 2007.
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