Bucharest, Nov 12 - International giant Kraft Foods will shut down its chocolate factory in Romania and lay off its 440 employees next year, saying it can no longer expand at its current location, it said on Wednesday.
Kraft, which will continue to produce chocolate under the local brands Poiana and Africana, bought the factory in the central Romanian city of Brasov in 1994.
"Due to space limitations ... and the downtown location of the Kraft production unit, raising production in Brasov is not a viable option," Kraft Foods Romania general director Lachlan Grave was quoted as saying by news agency Rompres.
"Production capacities in our factories were studied and we identified opportunities to consolidate production more efficiently in other Kraft units."
Several firms, including French carmaker Renault's Dacia plant and two units of steel giant ArcelorMittal have announced they will temporarily halt production in Romania as the mounting global economic downturn hits consumption.