The daily breakfast cereal serving that companies such as Nestle, Loulis, European Food or Dobrogea Group are vying over, is still quite small in Romania when compared with other European states, but the growth pace of up to 50% a year is likely to push the market beyond 35 million euros.
While the average annual consumption per capita does not exceed 370 grams in Romania, it reaches 780 grams in Hungary and tops 6 kilos in the UK.
In terms of volume, the Romanian market amounts to around 8,000 tonnes, while exceeding 26 million euros in terms of value.
As the consumer profile is changing each year, companies operating on this market are making annual investments both in the development of their product portfolio, and in product promotion.
Romeo Cazanescu, the manager of the cereal unit of Nestle subsidiary of Romania expects to see sales up by 30% on the domestic market this year, driven by the expansion of the product portfolio and by the upward trend of the market.
He also said the cereals unit last year generated 12% of the 120 million turnover of Nestle Romania.
According to him, the company launched Cookie Crips in early February, a product aimed at children and is to launch another two cereal bars destined to grown-ups by the end of this month. Nestle started selling breakfast cereals in 1997, though such products had been present on the market ever since 1994 through a distributor that imported them from France.
It began importing them from Poland in 1997, and is still importing them from this country today.
Another foreign player tapping into this market is Greece's Loulis International Group, present domestically through Loulis Romania. Loulis has been operating in Romania since 1998 and the cereal unit was launched in 2003, under Fortza brand.
In early 2004, Loulis launched a premium breakfast cereal range and the company's portfolio now includes six products.
Florin Lupescu, brand manager with the cereal unit of Loulis Romania, said Loulis sold more than 240 tonnes of breakfast cereals in the first two months of the year, while overall sales on this market amounted to approximately 830 tonnes.
Romanian firms, such as European Food&Drinks, owned by Micula brothers, were also lured by the potential of the market.
The cereal unit entered the market in early 2002, with the first product types under Viva brand.
In the following years, the company launched another two brands, Olla and Rollo, each including several cereal types.
European Food products are sold both domestically and abroad, in Israel, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Bulgaria.
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