Norofert, the leading Romanian producer of organic fertilizers

By Andra Beltz
Norofert Group is the leading Romanian producer of organic agricultural products, currently having 3 companies within the Group – Norofert Eco, Norofert Organics, and Norofert Fitofarma.
Norofert’s story was started in 2000 by Florin Popescu and until today, it remains a family business, currently being run by Vlad Popescu. In 2010, Norofert saw a niche forming globally in the area of organic fertilizers and has switched its focus and begun importing high-quality organic products from Spain, US and Germany and distributing them to local farmers. In 2015, the year that Vlad Popescu took over the business, the company has renounced on the import activity and started its own fertilizer production facility that grew steadily throughout the years.
In August 2018, Norofert launched a premiere on the European market by introducing all its products in the form of an effervescent tablet. By replacing classic liquid or powder products used in agriculture with the tablet, Norofert removed completely the risk of fermentation at high temperatures, extended the product’s shelf-life to 5 years as well as significantly reduced storage and space need for transportation thus revolutionizing the organic agriculture sector. The effervescent tablet has so far been sold on the Romanian, French, and Spanish markets. Further expansion of Norofert’s innovative product is planned for the coming period. The effervescent tablet by Norofert has been recognized as an innovation, most notably by Business Magazin as an ’Innovative Project of 2018’ and received ’Best Innovation Award’ from Romania Insider publication in 2019.
Today, Norofert is producing bio-fertilizers, organic phytosanitary products such as insecticides and fungicides, seed and foliar treatments as well as has the full capacity to develop customized organic fertilizers that satisfy crop’s nutritional demand, specific to area, soil and growth stage of the plant. The company delivers its products to Romanian farmers as well as has contracts with distributors from the Republic of Moldova and Greece and is planning to further expand to Bulgaria and Croatia in the course of 2019. The company has currently two main lines – Norofert Organics, a line of organic fertilizers for professional farmers, sold in commercial quantities, which currently consists of over 20 products, and Norofert Fito – a line of 8 bioproducts that are sold in small quantities and which are destined for small farmers (cultivation up to 1 hectare) and hobby gardeners of fruits, vegetables, and flowers.
At the beginning of 2019, the company had 21 employees at the Group level. Norofert currently holds approximately 30% of the local market of inputs for organic farming.
All Norofert products are made in Romania, using 100% natural and ecologic ingredients.
Norofert SA shares entered trading on the AeRO market of the Bucharest Stock Exchange on March 3, 2020, an event marked by the company through the official opening of the trading session at the BVB headquarters. Norofert shares are traded under the NRF symbol, a statement issued to the Editorial Board shows.
Vlad Popescu, CEO and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Norofert Group, said: “We are pleased to officially start the Norofert journey on the Bucharest Stock Exchange, by listing NRF shares on the AeRO market. The impact of the capital attracted through private placement is unprecedented and we – it helped us to grow our business significantly and to start our external expansion. We thank all the shareholders who have supported us to take this first step on the stock market and we look forward to growing together, as we will continue to use the financing mechanisms. offered by the capital market to develop Norofert’s business “.