Pitesti-based furniture manufacturer Alprom turned over nearly 11 million euros in the first half of the year, 37% of which came from sales in Romania.
The company''s strategy for this year includes boosting the share of sales on the domestic market as part of the total and investing in upgrades and environmental protection measures.
"We set out to have this year''s output for the domestic market reach 35-40% (of the total)," said Violeta Anton, Alprom''s financial manager. Deliveries on the Romanian market in 2004 accounted for some 30% of overall turnover.
Having until now focused mainly on exports, most furniture producers in Romania are starting to invest more in their increasing sales on the domestic market in order to have some protection against the fluctuation of the RON/EUR exchange rate.
"The domestic market is very interesting to any maker of furniture or of other wooden products, as it is a developing market and, at the same time, a more stable market than the international market in terms of prices. These have caused problems for all exporters, and implicitly to those in the wood processing industry, due to the strengthening of the domestic currency against the euro," Anton explained.
In order to boost its sales in Romania, Alprom is looking to develop its own retail network and promote sales through other networks. Alprom currently has one store each in Bucharest, Iasi, Cluj, Constanta and Pitesti.
The company plans to invest 1.8 million euros this year, 40% of which will be used to implement environmental measures. Alprom officials said that the recent floods had not affected their business excessively, though they did generate some delays in getting raw material supplies.
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