Balkan raw materials distributor AFCO, with offices in Greece, Bulgaria, Romania and Serbia, organized a technical conference in Bucharest Romania, with the support of ExxonMobil

At a recently Bucharest-held two-day event organized by Aegean First Company AFCO supported by ExxonMobil Chemical, managers of multiple industries, stakeholders and raw materials supply chain representatives in Romania and abroad met to discuss the latest updates and trends about polymer raw materials.

The wider objectives of the event, VALUE ADDED SOLUTIONS IN PLASTIC PACKAGING THAT CAN OFFER SUSTAINABILITY BENEFITS, addressed the need of creating valuable channels of communications between the companies acting all along the supply chain in the polymer industry, from producers to distributors and converters, understanding the market demands and challenges, the trends of polymer technology development, re-design of polymer-based products according to the EU regulations (PPWR – Proposal Packaging and Packaging Waste, polymer packaging waste regulations).  AFCO is the exclusive distributor of ExxonMobil Chemical in Greece, Romania and Bulgaria.

Christos Spanos, CEO of the Aegean First Company AFCO present at the event, underlined that one of the company’s core values is to establish a long-term partnership with customers from key industries the company serves: “The Balkan peninsula acts as a unified marketplace and is becoming more and more important in terms of growth potential for the company. We are very proud of our technical teams specialized in polymers which are in plan to develop products together with our customers. This is a real differentiator within the overall competition of polymers distributors in Balkan region. AFCO aims to help its customers to design products based on polymer solutions of ExxonMobil that are more sustainable compared to other alternatives like glass, paper and steel as sustainability and reduction of the CO2 footprint is part of our core agenda.”

At the same time, the company needs to address through its solutions and adjustments the challenges of the regional and global market, since the overall landscape is defined nowadays by a multitude and complex range of risks, from geopolitical to industry – such as the supply chain and logistics challenges, macro-economic, fiscal and regulatory risks.”

Dimitris Tzevelekis, General Manager at AFCO Solutions said during the event that AFCO Solutions, the Romanian entity of the Group, distributes polymers and Industrial Chemicals raw materials to over 200 companies. The Polymers BU supplies industries such as food, agriculture, construction, industrial packaging and wire & cable, while the Industrial Chemicals BU supplies industries such as paint, construction and detergents.  “We operate in a very volatile and highly competitive business environment affected by the unpredictable geopolitical and economic landscape. Our aim is to continue being a valuable partner to both our suppliers, that deliver state of the art products and technologies and our customers that are using it to create competitive advantages. Being financially stable we foresee an organic growth of 20 to 25 per cent in the next three to five years in Romania.”

According to 2023 company data, AFCO Solutions Romania reached 20 million Euro, within a total turnover of AFCO group of companies estimated at 165 million Euro. AFCO Solutions has a team of 15 people in Romania, expected to continue growing to support the business growth.

Market information was shared also by Mr.Paolo Massa, PE Account Manager, ExxonMobil Chemical, while technical topics were presented and discussed by Mr. Mathieu Meerts, PE Application Development Engineer at ExxonMobil Chemical, Mr. Yves M. Vanhaecht, Customer Application Development, ExxonMobil Chemical and Mr. Kostas Chantzis, AFCO Group Technical Director.

The Romanian AFCO Solutions team:

About Aegean First Company AFCO SA

With a timespan of more than 40 years since it established as company in Greece, the privately-held AFCO group grew its markets in Europe in countries such as Bulgaria, Romania and Serbia and addresses the distribution of premium raw materials, polymers, industrial chemicals, agrochemicals, food additives, cosmetics and pharma. AFCO has been recognized by the world’s largest petrochemical market information provider ICIS Business Magazine among the 100 TOP European Chemical Distributors. In Romania, the AFCO Solutions Company established in September 2017 and set up logistics hubs in Bucharest, Constanta, Timisoara and Cluj-Napoca from where it distributes polymers to its customers from various industries.