“The government is providing 282 million forints (EUR 788 thousand) in funding towards the investment of some 600 million forints (EUR 1.68 million) being realised by Szerencsi Bonbon Limited, with which 130 workplaces are being successfully saved in the Borsod-Abauúj-Zemplén County town”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said on Monday in Szerencs at a ceremony to present a Competitiveness-Increasing Program funding certificate.

Mr. Szijjártó said the investment project will involve the construction of a new, 2300 square metre production hall. He said that in his opinion enterprises that enter into an alliance with the government could exit the situation caused by the coronavirus pandemic with a competitive advantage in view of the fact that modernisation investment projects such as the one being realised in Szerencs are capable of determining the future of an enterprise in the long term. “The Hungarian economy is being strengthened by traditional Hungarian enterprises, since they not only contribute to the economy, but also determine the sense of life of whole generations”, he added. “In addition, the investment project is also contributing to retaining the region’s young people, and to coaxing them back”, the Minister stated.
He pointed out that a few years ago Borsod-Abauúj-Zemplén County was still referred to as an economically backward region. “Today, however, it is the Hungarian county that attracts the fourth highest volume of investment, and thanks to the government’s policy of funding investment projects during the crisis 39 enterprises have committed to realising investment projects such as that being performed by Szerencsi Bonbon Ltd. As a result, 11,500 workplaces have been successfully saved within the region, and the government is proving 9 billion forints (EUR 25 million) in funding towards a total of 20 billion forints (EUR 56 million) in investment”, Mr. Szijjártó highlighted.

Zsófia Koncz, daughter of the region’s Member of Parlaiment Ferenc Koncz who died in June, and who is running in the by-elections as a candidate for the Fidesz-KDNP coalition, said Szerencsi Bonbon Limited was founded in 1993 by three people, and the company now provides work to 130 people. The sugar plant closed in 2008 in the city that is famous for its confectionery industry, and in the same year the National Szerencs Chocolate Festival was launched at her father’s initiative to ease the emotional burdens of the city’s inhabitants, and remains one of the region’s determining events. One of the important home bases of the Festival is the local chocolate factory, she added.

Managing Director of Szerencsi Bonbon Limited István Takács spoke about the fact that the company was originally founded to save and pass on the products manufactured and made popular by the original Szerencs Chocolate Factory, which was founded in 1923. Using the traditional recipes and through expanding its product lines, the company currently produces 265 different confectioneries and plans to introduce at least another 25. He emphasised that thanks to Nestlé Hungary Ltd., the company has been able to once again market its products under the Szerencsi brand name since last year.

(Ministry of Human Capacities / MTI)