Bulgaria’s Economy and Energy Minister, Delyan Dobrev, is discussing Thursday with bank creditors the future of the Kardzhali Lead and Zinc Complex (LZC; OTZK).

OTZK is the largest Bulgarian producer of non-ferrous metals in the southern city of Kardzhali, providing until recently livelihood of many in the city and the region.

OTZK has been out of operation in the past five months due to the plant’s failure to meet environmental safety requirements.

OTZK owner Valentin Zahariev also failed to complete the investment program of the plant and to pay salaries to a total of 519 employees for six months.

Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister, Simeon Djankov, had assured the regional administration on Wednesday that there is still interest on the part of a “solid, financially stable investor,” adding the State expects from Zahariev to become more active, so that an agreement could be reached.

It was also reported that Prime Minister, Boyko Borisov, had a talk Wednesday evening with the new owner of the Gorubso mines in the southern town of Madan,Nikolay Valkanov, to “find work for OTZK employees.” The information was reported by Borisov himself, speaking Thursday for Nova TV.

According to the PM, the State is seeking Valkanov’s assistance so that the metallurgists can receive their wages until the conclusion of the negotiations with the creditors. He admitted that the huge debts of the complex are pushing potential investors away.

Workers at Bulgaria’s largest non-ferrous metal producer, the Kardzhali Lead and Zinc Complex (OTzK), have sought assistance from Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan for an end to grievous mismanaged by the factory owner, according to a report in a Turkish news site.

OTzK workers have complained that they have not received their salaries for months, and that factory owner Valentin Zahariev has been engaging in a chronic draining of the enterprise.

The Lead and Zinc Complex, once a state-of-the-art facility, provides the livelihood of an important part of Bulgaria’s south-eastern city of Kardzhali, one of the centers of Bulgaria’s sizeable Turkish minority.

Due to heavy debts of the OTzK, many fear that it might go bankrupt or even close doors, as lending banks have already initiated proceedings against the enterprise to collect their dues.

The Bulgarian government then reacted by terminating the concession contract due to breaches, and transferring the mine to a consortium controlled by businessmanNikolay Valkanov.

Bulgarian PM Boyko Borisov and Minister of Economy and Energy Delyan Dobrevhave however said they have no similar way to counteract developments at OTzK, as the factory is privately owned.

Bulgaria will become the largest producer of ski in the world by 2013, the industrial manager of Amer Sports Bulgaria Yordan Lambrev announced at the Bulgaria: Business UP investment conference in Sofia.

Finnish company Amer Sports bought the ski manufacturing plant in the southern Bulgarian town of Chepelare four years ago, and has invested more than EUR 30 M in it since, Lambrev stressed.

In his words, Amer Sports Bulgaria was hoping to reach the production figure of 1 million pairs of ski but the belated winter in Western Europe foiled these plans, with Amer Sports Bulgaria producing 860 000 pairs of ski in its plant in Chepelare last year; the factory employs 700 people.

“We hope that next season the winter will be favorable to us, and we will reach the figure 1 million pairs of ski,” stated the Amer Sports manager.

The First International Investment Conference “Bulgaria: Business Up” started in the Bulgarian capital Sofia on Friday.

“Bulgaria: Business UP” is a new initiative designed to analyze and promote Bulgaria’s advantages as a foreign investment destination.

The goal of the “Bulgaria: Business UP” investment conference is to present to the international business community the highly favorable investment climate in Bulgaria as well as the variety of opportunities for successful and sustainable business that the country has to offer.

“Bulgaria: Business UP” is organized by Novinite.com (Sofia News Agency), the largest Bularian English-language media, and Novinite.bg, a Bulgarian-language news website, together with the InvestBulgaria Agency.

The Bulgarian state has listed state construction company Technoexportstroy in a second privatization bid with a cut price, after a first listing failed to convince buyers.

A first try in the beginning of April, in which Technoexportstroy was valued at BGN 68 M, attracted 4 companies who bought the documentation, but then refrained to bid.

Arab countries are ready to import lambs from Bulgaria, according to Bulgarian Minster of Agriculture and Foods Miroslav Naydenov.

Just Saudi Arabia needs some 5 M animals per year according to Naydenov, who spoke at a lamb producers meeting near the St. Peter and Paul Monastery nearLyaskovets.

The Bulgarian minister said that this mandates a more active role of the state in supporting lamb producers.

“Lamb producers started receiving subsidies only in 2009, but every year since then we have given them more and more, and we plan to continue that trend,” said Naydenov.

The minister however did not specify whether there are any ongoing trade negotiations or impending agreements with Arab countries on that issue.

The largest Bulgarian producer of non-ferrous metals, the Lead and Zinc Complex(LZC; OTZK) in the southern city of Kardzhali will not be declared insolvent, syndicate leaders have announced.

The heavily indebted LZC, which has been out of operation in the past four months, will not have the fate of Kremikovtzi, the behemoth steel mill near Sofia, which no longer operates as a result of years of mismanagement.

The creditors and trade unions have agreed to seek a way to fuel the Lead and Zinc Complex in Kardzhali again, local syndicate organizations have announced Monday, as cited by BNR.

What is more, they will be seeking to complete the investment program of the factory through the construction of new facilities, while the workers have agreed to abstain from new protests over their delayed salaries for one more week.

On Tuesday, representatives of the Polish consortium Silesia, who are interested in renting the plant, will pay a visit to it, and on Thursday representatives of the French bank BNP Paribas will follow suit.

A consortium of Polish firms has declared interest in renting the largest Bulgarian producer of non-ferrous metals, the Lead and Zinc Complex (LZC; OTZK) in the southern city of Kardzhali, announced Friday Valentin Nikiforov, Vice President of the Confederation of Independent Bulgarian Syndicates, a major trade union active in the recent crisis with the troubled LZC.

Nikiforov said the Polish consortium, whose participants were not specified, is ready to assume the payment of delayed salaries for the plant’s workers, which amount to about BGN 1.4 M.

On April 12, after 40-day protests over delayed salaries, the workers at the Lead and Zinc Complex received some of their money, totaling BGN 500 000, which were distributed on as a result of the sale of another troubled company, theGorubso-Madan mining firm.

Both the LZC and Gorubso-Madan were part of Intertrust Holding owned by Bulgarian tycoon Valentin Zahariev. However, both have descended into debt, leading to workers’ protests, and an intervention by the state arranging the sale of both companies by Intertrust Holding.

Zahariev owes a total of BGN 1.4 M in unpaid salaries to the Lead and Zinc Complex workers, and the payment of the January salaries came after 42-day protests by the plant workers which started in Southern Bulgaria and reach the capital Sofia. Zahariev has raised the needed cash through the sale of the Gorubsomines in the southern town of Madan.

Bulgaria’s government has indicated that the LZC in Kardzhali is also for sale, and that there are three bidders – one Bulgarian and two foreign – vying for it. However, Bulgaria’s Finance Minister and Deputy PM in charge of the economy Simeon Djankov never specified which the bidders were, with the news about the interest expressed by a Polish consortium first emerging on Friday, April 20.

Initial data indicate that Zahariev’s debts already amount to BGN 360 M, and are way beyond the earlier known figure of BGN 320 M.

A total of 519 employees of the Lead and Zinc Complex in Kardzhali, the leading Bulgarian non-ferrous metals producer, had not received salaries for half a year.

In early April, the workers filed personal claims in Court against the owner of the plant, Bulgarian oligarch Valentin Zahariev, who is also know for mismanagement of what used to be the largest steel-maker in Bulgaria, the now bankrupt Kremikovtzi plant near Sofia. They demand the replacement of the entire management, starting with him.

The Lead and Zinc Complex is still owned by Zahariev, the now-former owner of the Gorubso Madan metal mines. Gorubso Madan miners finally received their overdue wages after they had been staging protests for two weeks.

Businessman Nikolay Valkanov has taken over the concession of the GorubsoMadan metal mines from Valentin Zahariev. Valkanov is a former VP ofMultigroup, the company of Bulgarian tycoon Iliya Pavlov, who was shot dead in 2003. Valkanov currently owns “Minstroy” and Gorubso Zlatograd, another mining company in Southern Bulgaria, and has a concession of the “Varba” mine.

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A consortium of Polish firms has declared interest in renting the largest Bulgarian producer of non-ferrous metals, the Lead and Zinc Complex (LZC; OTZK) in the southern city of Kardzhali.

This was announced Friday by Valentin Nikiforov, Vice President of the Confederation of Independent Bulgarian Syndicates, a major trade union active in the recent crisis with the troubled LZC.

Nikiforov said the Polish consortium, whose participants were not specified, is ready to assume the payment of delayed salaries for the plant’s workers, which amount to about BGN 1.4 M.

The Polish businessmen are said to be meeting with the local syndicates in the southern city of Kardzhali on Friday.

On April 12, after 40-day protests over delayed salaries, the workers at the Lead and Zinc Complex received some of their money, totaling BGN 500 000, which were distributed on as a result of the sale of another troubled company, theGorubso-Madan mining firm.

Both the LZC and Gorubso-Madan were part of Intertrust Holding owned by Bulgarian tycoon Valentin Zahariev. However, both have descended into debt, leading to workers’ protests, and an intervention by the state arranging the sale of both companies by Intertrust Holding.

Zahariev owes a total of BGN 1.4 M in unpaid salaries to the Lead and Zinc Complex workers, and the payment of the January salaries came after 42-day protests by the plant workers which started in Southern Bulgaria and reach the capital Sofia. Zahariev has raised the needed cash through the sale of the Gorubsomines in the southern town of Madan.

Bulgaria’s government has indicated that the LZC in Kardzhali is also for sale, and that there are three bidders – one Bulgarian and two foreign – vying for it. However, Bulgaria’s Finance Minister and Deputy PM in charge of the economy Simeon Djankov never specified which the bidders were, with the news about the interest expressed by a Polish consortium first emerging on Friday, April 20.

Initial data indicate that Zahariev’s debts already amount to BGN 360 M, and are way beyond the earlier known figure of BGN 320 M.

A total of 519 employees of the Lead and Zinc Complex in Kardzhali, the leading Bulgarian non-ferrous metals producer, had not received salaries for half a year.

In early April, the workers filed personal claims in Court against the owner of the plant, Bulgarian oligarch Valentin Zahariev, who is also know for mismanagement of what used to be the largest steel-maker in Bulgaria, the now bankrupt Kremikovtzi plant near Sofia. They demand the replacement of the entire management, starting with him.

The Lead and Zinc Complex is still owned by Zahariev, the now-former owner of the Gorubso Madan metal mines. Gorubso Madan miners finally received their overdue wages after they had been staging protests for two weeks.

Businessman Nikolay Valkanov has taken over the concession of the GorubsoMadan metal mines from Valentin Zahariev. Valkanov is a former VP ofMultigroup, the company of Bulgarian tycoon Iliya Pavlov, who was shot dead in 2003. Valkanov currently owns “Minstroy” and Gorubso Zlatograd, another mining company in Southern Bulgaria, and has a concession of the “Varba” mine.

Bulgaria’s working day-adjusted industrial production index decreased by 3.6% in January 2012 year on year, the country’s National Statistical Institute has informed.

According to the Institute’s seasonally adjusted preliminary data, Bulgaria’s industrial production decreased by 0.6% in January as compared to December 2011.

Annual decreases were registered in the production of investment goods by 7.6%, in the production of energy by 4.2% and in the production of intermediate goods by 2.4%.

Significant monthly increases of production in manufacturing were seen in the manufacture of

paper and paper products (by 20.2%), in the manufacture of basic metals (by 14.4%), in the manufacture of fabricated metal products, except machinery and equipment (by 13.1%), in the manufacture of rubber and plastic products by (12.1%).

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Seventeen years after Bulgaria‘s last failed attempt to revive its automobile industry, the country has pinned new hopes on the launch of mass production of cars under the Chinese Great Wall badge, due on Tuesday.

The first car assembled here was rolled out in the middle of November last year at a factory near the town of Lovech, Northern Bulgaria. Mass production however will be launched with the official opening of the plant on February 21.

With the opening of its new plant in Bulgaria, Great Wall Motors becomes the first Chinese automaker to assemble cars in the European Union.

Cars produced by China‘s Great Wall already hit the Bulgarian market in October last year through a network of twelve representative show rooms across the country.

Voleex C10 sedan, Hover H5 SUV and Steed pickup are the three different vehicle models, which Chinese car maker Great Wall Motor Co and Bulgarian company Litex Motors will produce in the town of Lovech, Northern Bulgaria, at very competitive prices.

Expectations are for a furore not least because of the cars’ low prices.

Great Wall Motor Company, one of China‘s biggest automotive manufacturers, signed a joint venture (JV) deal with Bulgarian diversified holding company Litex Commerce in the presence of Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping and Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov at the end of 2009.

The plant will have an annual production capacity of 50,000 units and assemble four different models – a sports utility vehicle (SUV), a pickup and two passenger car models, which are expected to be sold in European Union countries.

The total initial investment is around EUR 97 M, potentially reaching EUR 300 M if the project is successful. The Chinese company has secured 10% of the money, the remainder was forked out by Litex Motors, owned by petrol businessman and owner of Litex football club Grisha Ganchev.

The cars are expected to be sold under the Great Wall badge, boosting the firm’s output from around 400,000 at present.

The project is considered to be nothing short of a coup for Bulgaria, which does not currently produce any passenger vehicles, though it does have a modest but successful automotive components industry.

The plant will surely be positioned squarely towards export market and by the time production commences, the automobile market is expected to be experiencing a post-slump upswing.

This may also be the last chance for the revival of the local automobile industry after in mid 1990s Rover set up a joint venture with the Bulgarian Daru Group in Varna, which failed because of a weak market strategy, high prices, and a stronger competitor in the face of Skoda.

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Bulgaria’s brewing industry brings the state budget some BGN 297 M annually, according to the Chair of the Bulgarian Brewers’ Union and General Manager of Heineken Zagorka Ruud van den Eijnden.

The total added value of the Bulgarian beer production and distribution is estimated at BGN 219 M, Ruud van den Eijnden said at the Fall Beer Fair of the Brewers Union in Bulgaria.

He further revealed that Bulgarian breweries employ directly 3 000 people, and the respective distribution firms – 8 000.

The 2011 Fall Beer Fair was part of a triple celebration of the Bulgarian Brewers’ Union – 130 years of brewing industry in Bulgaria; 20 years of the Brewers’ Union in Bulgaria, and 55 years of brewing science research in Bulgaria.

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