The Bulgarian subsidiary of the US Kraft Foods has set itself the ambitious goal to become a manufacturing hub of the company for the Balkans, its executive director said in an interview for Novinite.com.

“Kraft Foods recently invested BGN 40 M into the enlarging of the production capacities in the chocolate factory in Svoge, thus confirming its strategic interest in Bulgaria. With the investment, which is the largest investment of this type in Southeast Europe for the company, we are strongly positioned to become a manufacturing hub of the company for the Balkans,” Franco Del Fabbro said.

According to him the new technological lines and solution will provide opportunity for production of a wide range of chocolate articles from Bulgarians and for Bulgarians, among which are favorite brands as Milka, Suchard, and the traditional Bulgarian Svoge, Sezoni and Moreni.

The decision for the investment was made after the closure of a Kraft Foods plant in the Romanian town of Brasov, but Franco Del Fabbro says Bulgaria may start boasting bigger advantage over other countries only after it addresses the issues of EU funds absoprtion, rule of law and infrastructure.

The company has detected a slight decrease in consumption in the first months of 2009, but its head says there has been no dramatic change.

As for 2010, Franco Del Fabbro does not foresee a quick rebound.

“The economy has been hit hard and a lot of the speculation that was boosting the economy in the past years has come to a dramatic halt. People and companies have debt that needs to be paid back and personal income has been declining. A lot will depend on the actions that the government is taking to sustain the economy and provide new stimulus,” he said.

FULL text of the interview READ HERE