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|  Romania
the awakening giant of Europe |
Read our exclusive interview
| 
 OLTCHIM
Manager:
Mr Roibu,
General Manager
Contact:
1, Uzinei Street
Ramnicu Valcea
Romania
Phone : 00 40 73 07 46
Fax : 00 40 50 736 188, 735030
e-mail : oltchim@oltchim.onix.ro
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Company
Profile
 Activities
Cloro-alkali products
PVC
Polyols, propylene Oxide, monopropylene glycols, clorinated products
Alkylamines
Pesticides
Coex packings
Construction materials (PVC panels, PVC windows and door profiles, polyurethane
panels
Agro-food products (poultry and pork meat, meat tins, vegetables and fruits tins, natural drinks.
Strategy
Interview with
Mr. Roibu,
General Manager of OLTCHIM S.A.
Q: So, Mr. Roibu, Mrs. Boroga told us about the historical background of your company, about all the activities in all the details, but could you give to our readers a brief historical background of your professional experience?
A: Oltchim has developed here because of the salt deposit, which can assure the consumption, for 100 years. The first plant was started 30 years ago, having as raw material the salt that is at 8 km far. From this we obtain caustic soda and hydrogen and based on this other products were processed. As advantage comparing to other companies is that the raw material source is very near to the chemical work, the water supply is also less than 1 km far from the company and the power supply is across the street. We have also good access for the transport of the products on rails, trucks or by sea. Starting 30 years ago there were a lot of development stages. The first one was the chlorine-sodium plant, the next one was the petrochemical plant and than the intermediate products and the pesticides. After 1990 we stopped the production of some products because they gave us environmental problems and we kept only those products which were requested on the market and didn’t create environmental problems. Starting with 1994 we invested about 150 million $ in unit that we modernized, following, of course, the reduction of the production costs, but also to obtain a good quality for our products and, not less important, the environment protection.
About my professional experience I’m working here for 20 years. I started as an engineer in one of the plants and than I was the chief of a unit, than director of a plant, production line director and starting with February 1991 I’m General Manager. I own a lot of licenses, I’m also working for my doctoral grade, I’m co-author for a lot of products which are manufactured and processed here in Oltchim and together with the employees from the technical department we designed the program of modernization. As I mentioned, we already invested 150 million $ and the development program for the future is for other 250 million $. With these investments, in about 2 or 3 years, there is the possibility that Oltchim will become one of the most profitable companies in the country.
This is mainly because we have a big range of products, we don’t relay only on one product. When the market for one product, for example, is dropping, for other products it is a growing and we have always stability.
Q: I would also want to know in which areas of your activity are you interested to attract foreign investors?
A: In all Oltchim’s activities, but mainly in the chemical area of Oltchim, because it represents about 95 % of our business. About the other activities, the agro-food division is a very profitable one and helps us, working on Barter contracts, to recover the debts from the farmers. There is the possibility that, when our privatization will be on stream, the control stock package of these units will be sold and we will keep only a part.
Q: I would like to ask you if the idea of working in this Barter system is yours, because I don’t know many companies who work like this.
A: To be honest I saw this somewhere else, not in Romania. For example Dupont is practicing this kind of business, they are involved in chemical, pharmaceutical and food industry and on the European market they are working a lot in the Barter system. They are offering chemicals for agricultural products and than they process these products. It would be a pleasure for us to work based only on cash, but it’s not possible.
Q: Mrs. Boroga told us that you are exporting jams to the United States. I want to focus a little bit on this because the US market is our market. She explained to us and this was very interesting that you are in the market but it seems like you have so much demand that is not possible to cover.
A: That’s true. The demand is so big that we cannot cover it. When we will get a stabile market in the United States we will try to double the capacity of this unit. Of course, we don’t relay only on the US market, we have also different markets in Europe, and we are sure that we will resist on the market because of the natural taste of our products and their quality.
| Q: Are you thinking to go on light jams also?
A: For the moment we have these jams only for the domestic market.
Q: Your company is one of the best companies at the stock exchange, but are you satisfied with this?
A: Yes, we are pleased with our activity on the stock exchange and this was the result of the strategy of our company, of the advertising, of the new products we launched on the market. The good image of our company added value and increased the transactions on the stock exchange.
Q: As Mrs. Boroga said, you are working with a lot of young people. Why do you think this is important?
A: The most part of young people which are employed here are college graduates. Even if they didn’t graduate on chemistry they were employed and placed in those units where we renewed the production lined. It was something new for them and they were willing to know and learn everything about this. Being young, they have this desire of going higher and higher.
Q: For Romania is very important. You are building a new mentality, which is impossible with older people.
A: We send them in different countries, in all kinds of companies, which have similar activities, we also send them to all kind of training, specialization, conferences.
Q: You are candidate for privatization, but, about the people in the company, it seems like you are taking care of them and that you really want to remain like this and not to change these people.
A: There is no fear about the unemployment because no matter who will buy Oltchim it will be obligated to continue the activity of the company. This situation could appear only if the company who will buy Oltchim will buy it in order to shut it down and to have the Romanian market for their products. This thing cannot happen because the statistics show that the demand for the products that we are manufacturing is growing. For example, for the PVC there is a prediction for an increase of about 3 % for this year. In Western Europe there is a consumption of 25 kilos of PVC for one man a year and in the United States the situation is similar. In Romania, the figure is only of 1.5 kilos. I don’t believe that in 2 or 3 years we will arrive at 25 kilos but we will arrive for sure at 9 or 10 kilos and that means that Oltchim wouldn’t have the capacity to cover all the demand. The same thing is for polyols, another main product that we are manufacturing, and for pesticides. So, you can notice that the main products we are processing are having this increasing rate in the future. And, of course, what is important, not only for Romanian companies but for all the companies, is to have a market you can sell your product on. And for our products we created not only a domestic market but also foreign markets.
Q: That’s why we are here today. In our report we recommend closer action for investors and we believe that Romania is an ideal country for export because there is an incredible surrounding market and Oltchim is taking advantage of those surrounding market, a thing which could be very interesting for any investor. It’s not only the national market but it’s also the other markets in the region.
A: Yes, especially that for the next years Romania will continue to produce with reduced costs. We have to take advantage of this period when we can process the products with low labor costs and this is the period to modernize the plants.
Q: As a final issue, what will be your final message to our readers?
A: First of all I can say that Romania is a very beautiful country, an interesting one, with a very good economical potential. Compared to other countries we have a good potential for agriculture, we have huge deposits of raw materials like oil, metals and other natural resources, which give the possibility of rehabilitating the economy, even if, for the moment, you can notice a dropping of the economy.
It was normal after such a regime that the economy will suffer a lot. I’m sure that in a very short time the economy will grow and Romania will become what it was during the wars, when the Romanian currency was the strongest in Europe. With trust and ambition I think that a lot of good things can be done here, in Romania, so I can say to your readers to be trustful and to invest on the Romanian market. They won’t loose their money if they will do this. |
© World INvestment NEws, 1998.
This is the electronic edition of the special country report on Romania
published in FORBES
Magazine's enriched with complementary information,
such as full interviews, detailed company files and more.
June 1 st 1998 issue
Developed by AgenciaE.Tv |
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