Elite spends $10m on expansion

Coffee producer Elite Romania, a leader of the Romanian market of packaged coffee, is investing ten million dollars to expand its Bucharest-based production facilities. Elite is planning to turn Romania into a regional centre, from which to operate exports to Bulgaria, Croatia and Serbia. The company would thus become Romania's first coffee exporter. "The investment will start this fall and will be completed in 2006. We shall expand the production area to 20,000 square metres, up from 5,000, as we will build new facilities and a storage space. For the beginning, we are planning to export coffee worth $6-7m to Bulgaria annually, with Serbia and Croatia to follow," said Eli Rachmut, general manager of Elite Romania and the Balkans. ZF< /P>