Bulgaria: Bulgarian building materials maker Gips has launched a Euro8m factory for the calcination of natural gypsum in the north-western province of Vidin. Company officials announced that the new factory has a capacity of 80,000t/yr and has improved energy efficiency by 38% compared to the old factory.
Bulgarian construction company Montagengineering built the plant and the equipment was supplied by Germany's Claudius Peters Projects. The project was co-financed with Euro1.8m from the European Union funded operational program 'Competitiveness' while Gips provided the remainder from own funds.
Gips, Bulgaria's sole producer of natural gypsum, was set up in 1965. It intends to boost its exports, as it currently sells some 90% of its output on the domestic market according to its executive director Plamen Vassilev. The company currently exports to Serbia and is considering entering the Romanian market. The new factory and the company's nearby gypsum mine employ a total of 224 people.
