Over half the 5,000 bakeries in Romania will be forced to close after EU accession, because they do not comply with EU standards, according to Aurel Popescu, president of the Romanian association of bakeries ROMPAN in remarks reported by the Romanian news digest.
The EU standards in the sector will take effect on 1 October 2006 in Romania, which is expected to join the Union on 1 January 2007.
According to Popescu, unfair black market competition and tax evasion have a negative effect on licensed producers who sell their output at five to six times lower prices than in EU, although production costs are equal to those in the Union.