Minister Nikola Stoyanov launched a new investment for 56 million euros in Pleven

The Minister of Economy and Industry Nikola Stoyanov launched a new investment for 56 million euros in Pleven. The project belongs to the French company "Malteri Soufflé Bulgaria", which has started the construction of a new malt plant, with which it will double its production capacity in our country.

"An investment of this scale is a very strong sign of the business climate in the country and a positive signal that Bulgaria has all the conditions to be home to companies of this rank," Minister Stoyanov said. According to him, the project will introduce innovations of the latest generation. "Another important fact is that the investor's future plans are mainly related to his market in our country," added the Minister of Economy. He explained that with the increase in production, the company will fully satisfy the demand of Bulgarian breweries and will create additional opportunities to increase exports to neighboring countries.

At the moment, the company with 45 employees in their enterprise in Pleven manages to achieve an annual turnover of about BGN 25 million. "This speaks of high efficiency, innovation and maximum mechanization," said Nikola Stoyanov. He emphasized that the region needs new jobs, so another good news is that the company plans to use Bulgarian contractors during the construction.

Minister Stoyanov also commented on the bilateral economic relations with France. The European country is among the leading trading partners of Bulgaria and occupies the 6th place in terms of the export of Bulgarian goods. In 2022, trade between Bulgaria and France will amount to 2.6 billion euros, and French investments in the country will amount to 1.2 billion euros. "Behind these numbers are projects that create over 15,000 jobs and guarantee economic activity between our two countries," commented Minister Stoyanov. He also announced the holding of a Bulgarian-French business forum in Paris. "I hope that companies like yours - which are already in Bulgaria and achieve a number of successes here - will tell about their experience to other potential French investors. Because I believe that there is a lot of unused potential between our two countries," stressed Nikola Stoyanov.

The event was attended by Guillaume Couture, representative of the "Souffle" group, Clément Gravreau, director of "Malteri Souffle Bulgaria", H.E. Joel Meyer, Ambassador of France, Todor Djikov, Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Ivan Petkov, Regional Governor of Pleven, Georg Spartanski, Mayor of Pleven, etc.

"Malteri Souffle Bulgaria" is part of the French InVivo group, which is one of the leading producers of malt in the world. The company has more than 92 sites in 38 countries and employs more than 14,500 people. The malt division has production in 12 countries, and in Bulgaria it develops its activities through factories in Pleven and Haskovo. The investment project, which started today, is worth 56 million euros and aims to double the company's production capacity to 60,000 tons of malt per year.