Ugur Kayali, general manager of Arctic, Romania's biggest producer of home appliances, says the market in the first quarter of this year underwent some changes compared with the similar period of the previous years, generally tending to resemble the foreign markets.
"The market increased by 5-8% on average, with seasonality levelling off being the main reason for that. During previous years, we used to sell more refrigerators during the summer season, while sales of washing machines used to rise after school started. Now, overall sales are more balanced and this is visible for all products," stated Ugur Kayali.
According to Arctic data, against Q1 2006, when the main market players recorded weak and even falling results, this year the market had a more balanced reaction, with sales going up on all the segments.
"However, I do not know whether the sales balancing phenomenon will maintain during the entire year. We are not expecting something new as the market is unchanged and includes the same European brands, but we're also taking into consideration the fact that market increased a little above our expectations in the first quarter," stated Kayali.
He explains this modification through a possibly stronger consumer confidence in the economy and says the Romanian market is starting to adjust to the way European markets operate.
The balancing of electrical home appliances sales is also generated by the faster rate at which households replace home appliances.
Arctic manager estimates the 5-8% market increase will be largely generated by products such as LCD TV sets and the need of built-in home appliances.
The trend Kayali underscores is confirmed by market retailers that register the biggest sales of built-in appliances during summer, when the need to equip new houses is rising owing to the new constructions generally finalised by Romanians working abroad, with the contribution of major housing projects being still low, as many of them have a minimum deadline of over 12 months.
With regard to Gaesti plant, Arctic representatives stated they were considering development possibilities, with a new refrigerator production line likely to be added beside the horizontal freezers line installed last year, or even a washing machine line.
"For the time being, we are studying the long-term plan starting 2008. We have a 5-year plan we update each 2-3 years. (...) Now, we are seeking new investment targets and this year is more critical since we've reached our physical limits," said Kayali.
The future production facility could be built in Gaesti, where the company owns another plot of land fit for the construction of a home appliances plant or in a western city to facilitate access to logistic routes to export markets.
Arctic
Last year registered turnover worth 194m euros, 25% higher than in 2005,
Is studying possibilities to develop the plant in Gaesti, with a new refrigerator production line likely to be added besides the horizontal freezers line installed in last year, or even a washing machine line
The future production facility may be built in Gaesti or in a western city to facilitate access to logistic routes to export markets
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