Top of the biggest bread producers in Romania. Among the biggest companies in the sector is one with a factory in Cluj

Vel Pitar, a company controlled by Mexicans from Bimbo, Tinervis, the company that operates Luca simigeras, and the Belgians from La Lorraine are the most important players in the bread market, according to 2022 data published by Economedia, this being the latest year for which companies have their balance sheets filed. The five largest companies have a combined business of approximately 2 billion lei and all increased their business in 2022, a year in which record bread prices were reached across Europe. In 2023 and this year, a Mexican company that is among the largest in the field worldwide, expanded in Romania, acquiring the largest player in the local market and marking, in 2024, a new acquisition of another company of Top 10. Among the biggest companies in the sector is La Lorraine, with a factory in Cluj.

According to Termene.ro data, in 2022 there were 12,822 active companies with CAEN 1071: Bread manufacturing; manufacture of cakes and fresh pastries. This class includes the manufacture of fresh bakery products: bread and other bread specialties (buns).

With business of over 762 million lei in 2022, Vel Pitar was the second leader of the bread market in Romania. The company made a profit of over 90 million, up 31% from the previous year, and had 1,897 employees. Vel Pitar was formed in 2001, through the merger of four factories from the milling and baking industry: Mopariv Vâlcea, Berceni Bucharest, Granpan Tecuci and Panegrano Cluj. Later, the company expanded its activities, acquiring other companies with the same profile, so that the group ended up owning 10 production units in 9 main cities of the country. At the beginning of 2023, the largest bread producer in Romania, controlled by the American investment fund Broadhurst, managed in turn by New Century Holdings, reached an agreement to be taken over by the Mexican group Bimbo, one of the largest companies in bakery production in the world. The Mexican group continues its expansion on the bakery market in Romania and, after the acquisition of Vel Pitar, now also buys the business Trei Brutari (formerly Velrom), which produces Boiereasca bread, one of the most purchased bakery products in Romania, as well as three other factories bakery from businessman Andrei Siminel, who sold the Vel Pitar bakery business to the Mexicans last year. Mexicans now own two of the largest companies in the field in Romania.

The next company in the ranking, Tinervis Group, was barely half the level of business compared to Vel Pitar: approximately 368 million lei and marked a profit of 41 million lei in 2022. The company, which operates the Luca supermarket chain, is the largest employer in the ranking, with over 2000 employees. The company with Romanian capital has developed a network of over 140 units, managed under its own regime, positioned so as to be as visible and easily accessible to the general public. According to the latest information, the company is present in Bucharest, Moldova, Muntenia and the center of the country – Brașov, Sibiu.

It follows closely At Lorraine, part of the Belgian group with the same name, which has a factory at Câmpia Turzii in Cluj. The company had reached a turnover of almost 338 million lei in 2022. However, the company recorded a decrease from the profit/loss chapter. The group had 339 employees in 2022 and recorded a loss of 11.47 million lei.

Fornetti Romania, the popular chain that sells frozen pastries had in 2022 business of 293 million lei, up 37% compared to the previous year, and a profit of 28.73 million lei, with 461 employees. The company started its activity in Hungary and then expanded into a franchise system. József Palásti, master baker and founder of Fornetti started manufacturing frozen bakery products in the spring of 1997.

It is on the 5th place Agromysmoni, a company based in the town of Pechea in Galati. The company has been on the market for 10 years and its activity is the manufacture of bread, cakes and fresh pastry products and in 2022 it had a turnover of over 208 million lei, with 45 employees.

Three Bakers, recently taken over company, had in 2022 business of almost 150 million lei, profit of 18.42 million and 368 employees.

For the most important players in the sector, 2022 brought an increase in turnover, even if the profit did not follow the same trend for all, with minuses for La Lorraine and Trei Brutari.

The five largest players in the market accumulate businesses of almost 2 billion lei:

Vel Pitar, Tinervis, Fornetti, Primo Prod and Trei Brutari are the companies with the highest profits in 2022.

It is worth mentioning here that 2022, the most recent year for which companies have submitted balance sheets, was one with record prices for bread, with the outbreak of the war in Ukraine having major effects on the food market. Thus, in August 2022, the price of bread in the European Union was on average 18% higher than in August 2021, according to Eurostat. The institution notes that this is a huge increase compared to August 2021, when the price of bread was on average 3% higher than in August 2020. Romania was in 10th place, in the top of the price increases (an increase of approx. 25%). This year, according to the latest data from the National Institute of Statistics, in April the price of bread is 0.73% higher than in April 2023, this being one of the products with a capped commercial addition.

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