It appears that the report of Bialetti’s plan to move production to Eastern Europe (see previous post) has been subjected to a case of Chinese whispers. The media having heard one thing, have then decided to embellish the story to make better copy and whip up a hyperbole of nonsense.

I have been reliably told that Bialetti is not actually closing its factory in Italy. Bialetti is planning to move only its cookware production to Eastern Europe. Manufacture of the Moka Express and many other stove-top models will remain in Italy.

Bialetti announced last week that it’s planning to switch production from its factory in Italy to somewhere in Eastern Europe. Bialetti claim that increase competition from single serving machines (such as Nespresso, Tissamo etc) has forced them to look to reduce their production costs in order to remain competitive.
 

Somehow I have my doubts whether this is the real reason behind Bialetti’s proposal. Should production move; are we likely to see a reduction in the retail price? Well Bialetti has already switched production of much of its stainless steel range to India. Both the Venus and Musa coffee makers have been manufactured there for well over a year. However, the retail price for these has remained the same (of course this could be partly due to £’s poor performance against the €).

I think the real reason for the proposed move is that Bialetti is in considerable debt. Bialetti has a debt of around €107 million and is under pressure by its main creditor to reduce this amount significantly.

So should the switch in production affect consumers? I think that the move is unlikely to affect quality. When Bialetti moved stainless steel production to India there was no noticeable change. The fact is that many small household appliances, like toasters and kettles, are manufactured in a different country to where they are designed (mainly in China). So Bialetti is simply following a trend.

Let’s just hope that supply remains stable. Since the Venus’s production moved to India supply has been mishmash at best. It would be a major pain if the rest of the range was so difficult to get supplies of.