Sales of sofas on the domestic market have registered a growth rate of over 30% a year, several times higher than the rate of the overall furniture market, aided by a boom in construction sector.
Last year, furniture sales on the domestic market rose by 5%, while a 10% growth rate is anticipated for this year. The sofa market is not only growing in volume year by year, it is also developing in terms of consumer profile. This means that people are paying more attention to the quality of the features and to the design of the products. At present, the Romanian market does not have a great deal of companies exclusively specialising in the manufacturing of sofas. Most products are generally manufactured along with other types of furniture.
Italsofa Romania, part of Natuzzi international group, one of the world's biggest sofa manufacturers is one of the domestic firms whose main activity is sofa production. Natuzzi produces only leather and micro fibre sofas in Baia Mare, 99% of which are mostly exported to EU countries. Italsofa currently collaborates exclusively with the Linea Mex firm on the Romanian market. According to the company's deputy chairman, Italsofa will continue to sustain its amount of exports over the following period, but the Italian group may also choose to enter the Romanian retail market.
Another firm manufacturing sofas in Romania is Prestige Mob. So far, the company has invested over 4m euros in its plant located near Bucharest. Prestige Mob sells sofas exclusively on the domestic market, through specialised stores throughout the country. The company posted sofa sales of around 6.5m euros and expects to see a growth rate of around 25% this year. Prestige Mob has been present on the domestic market since 1999, and is an exclusively Turkish-held company.
Another player on the sofa market is Iugesti of Sibiu, which generated sales of around 5m euros last year. The company is not a sofa producer, but the Romanian representative of Germany's Schieder Mobel Holding concern. Its sofa unit currently accounts for 50% in the overall turnover generated by the Iugesti firm. At present, the company is selling around 80 sofa models, with Iugesti's product portfolio to double in 2007.
The most important furniture producers in Romania are Mobexpert and Elvila, while other international groups present on the Romanian market include Ikea.
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