Timisoara, a leading food location in Romania

The capital city of West-Romania Region has 300,000+ inhabitants, excellent natural conditions and supplier basis, good access to Western and Eastern European markets. The food processing industry is the organic part of boosting local economy.





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Timisoara was established in the 13th century in the Hungarian Kingdom. This is the historical capital of Banat Region, part of the Pannonia plain. It was the first mainland European city to be lit by electric street lamps in 1884. It was also the second European city with horse drawn trams in 1867. The Romanian christmas revolution in 1989 started here.

 source: Wikipedia



The Banat Region is a traditional agricultural area. The black soil and low water table, the continental climat (average high temp: 17 °C, average low temp: 5 °C) make this a fertile agricultural location.


The Romanian motorway and road system is not too developed, but Timisoara is very closed to the Hungarian border and to the M5 motorway. The Airport Timisoara provides access to the main European hubs from Munnich to Rome, and also has domestic flights, mainly to the capital city Bucharest.


Regarding local business environment, the city has 3 business parks. The County-owned Timisoara Industrial and Tech Park (PITT) has 11 hectares total area, and full public utility infrastructure. The 48-hectare-size Freidorf Industrial Park is managed by the City, and provides a low-cost land leasing with 49-73.5 years duration. The Log Center Timisoara has 18,000 storage and 3,700 office supply, rental fees: 4.5 €/sqm/month for storage and 7€/sqm/month for offices.


The top international FMCG investors in Timisoara are Nestlé, Kraft Foods, P&G, Danone. Smiethfield Foods has two subsidiaries in Timișoara and Timiș County: Smithfield Ferme and Smithfield Prod.

Overview of food processing locations in Eastern Europe

 

Poland, Hungary and Romania got the major food industrial investments in Central- and Eastern Europe. The strong agricultural background, the supportive public authorities and the easy access to the EU food market ensures the success of these countries.

Poland

source: wikimedia

Poland has one of the largest and strongest agriculture and food sector in Eastern Europe. The land market is highly liberalized and foreign investors are welcomed also in agriculture. This resulted an effective, market-driven development of local food business.

The leading agricultural region is Wielkopolska (Poznan) Region, west from Warsaw http://www.wielkopolska-region.pl/index.php. Although the natural conditions are under the national average, the levels of efficiency, technical equipment and farming practices make this region one of the leading locations. International food processing companies like Nestlé, Wrigley, Reemtsma invested here, appreciating the excellent agricultural background, the good transportation access to Western Europe and the large domestic market.

Hungary

source: North Great Plain Development Agency

Beside Poland, Hungary is the main target area of international food processing investments. Fifty percent of the investments in the sector came from EU investors, and 80% of the export goes to other EU countries. The good natural conditions, the effective farms, the trained labour force made it attractive for international companies like Friesland, Danone or Ferrero.

The North Great Plain (“Észak-alföld”) Region is traditionally one of the strongest agricultural areas. Industrial parks like Karcag Industrial Park www.karcagiiparipark.hu provide a large supplier basis, skilled (and unemployed) labour force and excellent transportation.

Romania

source: European Commission

Behind the two leading countries (Poland and Hungary), Romania became in recent years the most frequented location for CEE food investors. The agricultural population (3 million employees) is one of the biggest in Eastern Europe, and the 200 thousand employees in food processing industry are also meaningful. Meat, cereals and beverages are the most important product categories.

West-Romania http://www.regiuneavest.ro/en/home/ bordered by Hungary and Serbia, has a strong food business sector. Business parks like Freidorf Industrial Park in Timisoara http://www.regiuneavest.ro/en/investor-locations/public-industrial-zones/page/id/1/ are the main hosts of food processing industry, providing full range infrastructure and services.