A German investor has opened a plant for engineering plastic products in Pleven. The production facility represents an investment of €10 million and is expected to provide at least 130 new jobs in a city where the number of unemployed people is close to 8,000. The company plans to expand its operations over the next 10 years.
The facility is located in Pleven’s industrial zone. According to Silas Waap, Head of Global Industrial Engineering, Bulgaria was preferred to Albania and Turkey because of its infrastructure and logistical opportunities.
“We chose Bulgaria over Albania and Turkey because of its good infrastructure. Logistics was also a key factor, as our ambition is for our products to reach the Middle East through the ports of Varna and Burgas, in addition to Europe,” Waap says.Plans to export to the Middle East also depend on the normalization of trade routes. The company is looking for employees with technical education and experience in logistics. Waap points out that labor costs in Bulgaria are lower than in Germany, while salaries will be “reasonable.”
The plant occupies the site of a former production facility
The new plant has been built on the site of another company that moved its production to North Africa two years ago because of rising wages and social security contributions in Bulgaria. The previous facility employed 2,200 people.
“There were 2,200 jobs here, and those people ended up at the employment office, so there is available labor,” says Svetoslav Bogalinski, Director of Business Development. In his view, one investment is not enough, but it will make a difference for Pleven.
“Hopefully, every city like this will have five or six such companies. This creates competition and raises the standard of living,” Bogalinski says.The new jobs are important for local residents, some of whom travel to other cities for work. Tsvetomir Damyanovski is a machine operator in Sevlievo, while his wife works in the state administration in Lovech.
“There are no investments. This city has 80,000 people—how many plants does it have? Mostly garment companies and small workshops,” says Damyanovski. Another Pleven resident, Martin Filipov, points out that the salaries offered in the city are often around €700 or lower.
Germany remains the largest foreign investor in Bulgaria, with German companies providing more than €372 million in capital during the first six months of the year.
Sources: bntnews.bg