Rap Confectionary To Produce Chocolate Bonbons For Kraft Foods

Ovidiu Vrânceanu, Braşov

Kraft Foods Romania and Rap Confectionary, a member of Raptronic Group, have come to an agreement on Rap Confectionary"s planned takeover of one of the production lines of Kraft"s chocolate factory in Brasov, Romania, to continue to produce the chocolate bars Smash and chocolate bonbons Chokotoff.

Rap Confectionary will also take over 28 Kraft Foods employees and then hire others from the local market. "Kraft Foods will continue to own the brands Smash and Chokotoff," said Doina Cavache, Corporate Affairs Manager, Kraft Foods Romania. "In the near future, we will focus on this cooperation with Rap Confectionary. We are not considering other forms of cooperation of this type," Cavache added. Rap Confectionary is part of Raptronic Group, controlled by the businessman Radu Popeia. He could not be contacted for comment.

• 134 employees will be laid off in June

Kraft Foods has given notice to the first 134 employees to be laid off at the end of June. The remaining staff of approximately 270 people will be laid off at the end of the year. According to Doina Cavache, the factory is being closed because it is impossible to develop production capacity in the current location.

"The strong development of the Kraft Foods Romania business in the last few years has generated a need for additional production capacity," said Lachlan Grave, CEO of Kraft Foods Romania. "Because of the limited space in the existing buildings and the fact that the Kraft factory is located in the middle of the city, increasing the production capacity in Brasov is not a viable option. We have studied the production capacities in our factories and identified opportunities to consolidate production more efficiency so as to ensure the proper sizing to support future development. The transfer of production will not affect our commitment to continue developing business in Romania," he added.

Doina Cavache added that chocolate tablet production would be relocated to Bulgaria. Kraft Foods has so far invested 30 million USD in the factory in Brasov, according to company estimates.

Kraft is one of the leading food and beverage producers in the world, with annual revenues exceeding 37 billion USD, more than 100,000 employees and over 180 production sites across the world. The company stock is included in the S&P 100 Index (NYSE:KFT), as well as in the Dow Jones and Ethibel.