Romanian state-owned company plans to build water bottling plants

Romania’s National Mineral Water Company SNAM wants to build between two and four mineral water bottling plants, with EUR 20 million investments. The state-controlled company awaits the Economy Ministry’s approval to start the project. SNAM will finance the project through a bank loan, reports local Mediafax. The company currently holds licenses only for water exploration and exploitation, but has no bottling capacities. Five years ago, the Competition Council issued a document which provided that companies that extract mineral water can’t also bottle it. The document, however, doesn’t apply anymore. The necessary investment for a plant with a capacity of 50,000 bottles per day amounts to EUR 8-10 million. editor@romania-insider.com