Bulgarian building materials co Gips launches 8.0 mln euro factory

The factory has a capacity of 80,000 tonnes per year and is 38% more energy efficient than Gips’ old production facility, company officials said during the opening ceremony.

The factory was built in four months by Bulgarian construction company Montagengineering, while the equipment was supplied by Germany's Claudius Peters Projects.

The project was co-financed with 1.8 million euro from EU-funded operational program Competitiveness while Gips provided the remainder from own funds.

The new factory and the company’s nearby gypsum mine employ a total of 224 people.

Gips will aim to boost its exports as it currently sells some 90% of its output on the domestic market, executive director Plamen Vassilev said. The company currently exports to Serbia and is considering entering the Romanian market.

Gips (www.gips-ad.com), Bulgaria’s sole producer of natural gypsum, was set up in 1965. The company has absorbed a total of 22 million levs ($14.6 million/11.2 million euro) in investments since it was privatized in 2006.

($ = 0.7723 euro)