BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) -- Hundreds of people will lose their jobs at a chocolate factory after Kraft Foods said Wednesday it would close its factory in Transylvania next year.
Kraft which manufactures chocolate bars under the brands Poiana and Africana will lay off its 440 employees by the end of 2009, said Doina Cavache, corporate affairs manager.
She said the closure was because the company could not expand in Romania and not due to the global economic crisis. Some of the company's chocolate manufacturing business will move to neighboring Bulgaria, she said.
She added that brands would still be produced, but not in Romania.
Kraft Foods Romania took over the factory in the Transylvanian city of Brasov in 1994. Built in 1903, it is Romania's oldest chocolate manufacturing plant. Kraft Food Romania had a turnover of $175 million (euro137.5 million) last year.