• Romanian bakery market: consumption decreasing, artisanal bakery products increasingly preferred.
• The consumption of bread in our country has decreased in recent years, as Aurel Popescu, president of ROMPAN, points out.
"In recent years, a decrease in total bread consumption has been observed. It decreases because the population is also decreasing, but the purchasing power is also lower. Consumption decreases because young people consume other snacks on the one hand, and on the other hand there are people who want to lose weight and then give up bread", he says.
The data from Trade Register shows that almost 7.000 companies are active in the bread and bakery products manufacturing sector, a figure that has remained constant in the last three years. In total, these companies reported in 2021 (the last year for which there is complete financial data for all sectors) a cumulative turnover of almost 8,5 billion lei. The market of bread and bakery products is one of the most important in the food sector, Romanians being some of the biggest consumers of bread at the European level.
But consumer behavior has recently changed, with preferences moving more and more towards artisanal bread or bakery products made from special flours and seeds, to the detriment of simple white bread. Moreover, Aurel Popescu also affirms this "I think that the consumption of artisanal bread will increase in the future and it will take market share from frozen bread mainly."
And indeed, in recent years more and more entrepreneurs have invested in opening artisanal bakeries, where they produce not only bread, but also other pastries or desserts.
The bakery market at county level
On the map of the counties according to the number of companies and the turnover reported by the companies in the field of bread and bakery products (CAEN code 1071), Bucharest is the best located also in terms of the number of companies - over 600 and in terms of turnover - almost 700 million lei.
Counties such as Cluj or Vâlcea, important centers of bread production, also report a gratifying turnover. President BREAKING explains the fact that the figures are not necessarily consistent with the purchasing power of the inhabitants of a certain area, considering that there are bread producers who also deliver to other counties or even to the whole country.
However, in the counties where the economic power is reduced, as in the case of Mehedinţi, Vaslui, Tulcea or Giurgiu, the turnover of companies in the bread sector is much lower than that of producers in counties such as Cluj, Timiș or Ilfov.
More and more investment in the bakery sector
Several important investments are currently underway in the bakery sector. At the top of them is the company Lantmännen Unibake Romania, known especially for the production of buns for the fast-food market, with an investment of around 100 million euros in a new production unit in the city of Pantelimon, near Bucharest.
Entrepreneur Elena Anastase, owner of the company Lidas from Tulcea, started an investment of 46 million euros (half of the amount being provided by a state aid) for the construction of the second bakery factory, in Cataloi. This is one of the biggest investments in the bakery sector in recent years and among the biggest made by a Romanian entrepreneur.
Not least, Lorraine, with a factory in Câmpia Turzii, one of the main producers and exporters of bakery products and pre-baked pastries, has an investment project of 70 million euros for the development of the activity in several stages. The company plans to expand the current production capacity by installing three new production lines and building a high-capacity intermediate warehouse.
Article written by Gabriela Dan, Editor of Arta Albă
Read on White Art and: Interview with Aurel Popescu - ROMPAN President
