Germans at Metro favour Romania over Poland

German group Metro has kept its sales level steady in Romania, at around 2 billion euros, according to ZF estimates, favouring Romania for investments over other countries with a stronger and more stable economy, such as Poland's.

Romania was thus the only market in the region where Metro Group opened stores in 2010, while the number remained steady in Poland and Bulgaria, according to information in the German group's annual report.

In Romania, although consumption of food and non-food products fell 6% in the first ten months of the year, Metro Group opened two cash&carry Metro stores and one real,- Hypermarket.
The German group, which yesterday published 2010 financial results, announces the Romanian macroeconomic situation affected the sales of real,- Hypermarket, which fell in the last quarter of last year. As for sales of Metro Cash&Carry Romania, they were weaker than in Eastern Europe as a whole. The Metro group is the biggest player in Romanian trade with 2.12 billion euros in 2009.