November 22 (SeeNews) - U.S. chemical giant DuPont Co targets a 25% rise in sales in Bulgaria this year backed by the strong growth of the EU newcomer's economy, DuPont director for Central Europe, Thierry Marin, said on Thursday.
"We see tremendous opportunity for growing in Bulgaria. [...] Bulgaria is growing and we want to participate in this growth," Marin told a news conference.
DuPont's sales in Bulgaria totalled some $40 million (27 million euro) in 2006, Plamen Gospodinov, the company's area business develpoment manager for Bulgaria, Serbia, Macedonia, Albania and Montenegro, told SeeNews after the news conference. Comparative figures for 2005 were not immediately available.
"Our intention is to grow [...] by developing applications using the whole range of DuPont solutions," Marin said. The company sees particular growth potential in Bulgaria's fast-developing construction and agriculture sectors. DuPont will also offer its products for the energy and electronics industries.
"All the sectors perfectly match with what DuPont is offering," Marin said.
Bulgaria's government has projected 6.4% real economic growth for the current year. The country's economy grew by 6.1% in 2006.
DuPont officially opened on Thursday a consolidated office in Bulgaria's capital Sofia marketing the whole range of its products. Besides Bulgaria, the office will service other emerging markets in the region: Macedonia, Serbia, Montenegro and Albania. DuPont opened an office in Serbia earlier this week.
Dellaware-based DuPont (www.dupont.com), set up in 1802, offers over 500,000 innovative products and services for markets including agriculture, nutrition, electronics, communications, safety and protection, home and construction, transportation and apparel. The company has operations in more than 75 countries worldwide, employing 60,000 people. DuPont reported $3.1 billion in net income last year, up 53.1% from the previous year.
($ = 0.6742 euro)