The National Mineral Water Company SNAM plans to open at least two mineral water bottling plants, according to the company’s manager Radu Dumitru. At present, SNAM only holds licenses for water exploration and exploitation.

“Now, we only extract the water and give it to companies for bottling. But we want to have at least two bottling plants. The state has many obligations towards hospitals, schools, and others, and we want to cover at least part of these obligation,” said Dumitru, quoted by local Agerpres.

He also added that only 30 percent of Romania’s drinking water flow is used, while the remaining 70 percent is lost because there isn’t sufficient bottling capacity.

“So the investment potential on this market is extraordinary. For a plant with a capacity of 50,000 bottles a day, the required investment is of EUR 8 - 10 million. We can also make these investments with European funds, as we proved that we are a company eligible for accessing European funds,” Radu Dumitru stated.

Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com