Kronospan will hire 500 staff at its 200m-euro plant in Brasov

Wood panel board manufacturer Kronospan Romania, part of Austrian group Kronospan, has completed a 200 million-euro investment in a plant that will manufacture wood board (OSB - Oriented Strand Board), located on a 46-hectare plot in Brasov. The new plant will generate 500 direct jobs and 3,000 indirect jobs, according to representatives of Kronospan Romania, with annual production expected to amount to 350,000 cubic metres a year. Company representatives did not, however, specify how many employees are currently working at the plant or how long it will take before the facility reaches 500 employees and starts working at full capacity. "We built Romania's only OSB plant (so far) in Brasov, with total costs amounting to around 200 million euros," Oana Bodea, communication manager of Kronospan Romania, told ZF Transilvania. Up until last year, Kronospan operated two companies in Brasov, Kronospan Trading and Kronospan Romania SRL, but currently Kronospan's activity in Brasov is carried out via Kronospan Romania. Last year the cumulated turnover of the two companies held by the Austrians in Brasov amounted to over 43.3 million euros (around 155.9 million RON).