Belgian Malmar Leaving Bulgaria Due to Lack of Skilled Staff

For a long time already, the business in Bulgaria has been talking about the ever-growing problem of the lack of skilled labor. This trend is not only about Bulgaria, but also about many other European countries. But we can say that in our country took the "first sacrifice". This is Belgian Malmar, which is a manufacturer of buses, trucks and construction equipment and a supplier for companies such as Volvo and Renault.

In 2016, its management confirmed that they would invest in a base in Plovdiv, but two years later, according to the data of Capital, the company decided to withdraw from the Bulgarian market. As a reason for their decision by Malmar, they point to a shortage of quality workforce. In retrospect, Gent-based company announced its intentions to "copy" its good experience from its production base in Latvia and in its likeness to open a new factory in Bulgaria.

In the Baltic state they entered in 2006 with only six employees, and a decade later they now have more than 150 staff, with 95% of the production produced there. The official announcement of the investment in Bulgaria in 2016 says that because of the rapid growth of the business and the attraction of new clients from the management have decided to open a new base and have chosen Plovdiv.

According to plans, the plant in the Bulgarian town had to work in the third quarter of 2016. However, the production there has never started, and it is now clear that Malmar has completely abandoned its idea of ​​doing business in the country. "Our plans have changed dramatically, because of the very low productivity of Bulgarian workers, we decided to stop the production in Plovdiv," Dorsan de Buische, manager of the company, told Capital. There will be only six engineers and one employee in...