May 5 (SeeNews) - Romania's agriculture ministry said it has been mandated by the government to hold negotiations with French sugar and ethanol group Tereos to try to overturn the company's intention to close down its factory in the central town of Ludus.
In the current geopolitical context, keeping the Ludus sugar factory active would ensure support for sugar beet growers, preservation of jobs for the factory employee, the maintenance of competition on the domestic sugar market, and would help prevent trade imbalances, the ministry said in a press release on Wednesday.
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After Tereos announced in January that it plans to close down the factory, the agriculture ministry initiated discussions with the Federation of Romanian Sugar Beet Growers, the Romanian Sugar Board and representatives of the French company. Agriculture minister Adrian Chesnoiu sent a letter to his French counterpart, Julien Denormandie, inviting him to find solutions to keep the Ludus factory running.
Headquartered in Moussy-le-Vieux, France, Tereos is active in the production of agricultural raw materials, in particular sugar, alcohol and starch markets.
The company bought the Ludus factory from from Roumaine de Sucrerie, a unit of Sucreries du Marquenterre Group, in 2012. The Ludus factory has been in operation for over 60 years and employed 184 at the end of 2020.
Tereos Romania ended 2020 with a net loss of 25.6 million lei ($5.44 million/ 5.17 million euro) on a turnover of 159 million lei, data from the finance ministry showed.
(1 euro=4.9471 lei)