Italian producer to open EUR 50 mln panettone factory in Romania

Italian company Battistero will invest EUR 50 million in a panettone cake production unit in Romania, at Jucu in Cluj – Napoca county, in the industrial park Tetarom III. The factory will employ 500 people, according to local authorities. The new factory will be set up on some 28 hectares and the contract will be signed next week, according to Horea Uioreanu, the president of Cluj county council, quoted by Mediafax newswire. The Italian investor would like to start production within a year from now, in September 2013. The production unit will serve the whole of Eastern Europe and the Nordic countries. Cluj was chosen for this investment due to its location, which makes it easier to distribute products in these areas of Europe. “We will produce panettone and biscuits at Jucu. Strategically it will be a very important production unit,” said Felice Moretti, the owner of Battistero. The four production lines in the factory will bring an annual turnover of some EUR 100 million by 2015. Panettone is a type of sweet bread loaf originally from Milan and usually prepared and enjoyed for Christmas and New Year in Italy. editor@romania-insider.com (photo source: Wikipedia)