Halewood sees turnover reaching the same level as last year

Winemaker Halewood, one of the leading wine exporters on the Romanian market, expects to end this year with a similar turnover to last year's, i.e. 11-12 million euros, says the company's general manager, Dan Muntean, who mainly anticipates a market recovery in the last quarter of this year. "We ended the first six months of this year with similar results to those recorded in the first half of 2008. There was a downward trend, but we managed to offset it," said Dan Muntean. In the July 2008 - June 2009 period the group posted a 3% turnover rise against the similar period of last year and expects sales to start on an upward trend in October. "It is hard to make an estimate, but we hope sales will start going up in October, and that we will record the same figures as last year," Muntean said. As for exports, Halewood could achieve similar figures to last year's. So, in 2008, out of a total production of 40,000 hectolitres (around 25,000 hectolitres of red wine and 15,000 hectolitres of white wine), almost 40% was exported, according to company data. "In 2009 production rose by around 15% in terms of volume, with the grapes being of very good quality. We expect this year's export figures to be close to those recorded in 2008, with Halewood accounting for 20% of Romania's wine exports," Dan Muntean added.