Tyre producers owning plants in Romania, Continental, Michelin and Pirelli, in 2008 posted turnover that for the first time topped 1.1bn euros, in addition to the domestic sales of Goodyear Dunlop. However, analysts' projections show in 2009 the tyre industry will not go beyond the 1bn-euro mark, but that domestic plants are protected in the face of the general industry restructuring mainly by the lower operating costs. "Of the car part production business, the tyre sector will continue to be the most important, but it is unlikely to go beyond 1bn euros. Romania is still low cost and during the crisis companies will choose to keep their plants here and not in Western Europe," said Marius Carp, an automotive industry analyst. At the same time, industry trade unions will fight to keep production in Western European plants and prevent relocation in countries such as Romania. National Statistics Institute data show that in the first fie months of this year, exports of processed rubber, mainly tyres, dropped by 20% to 314m euros. Despite also producing tyres for the Logan models assembled in Mioveni, most of these companies' production, around 80%, is exported. INS data show that rubber exports last year reached almost 900m euros. Thus, against the overall exports of above 33bn euros in 2008, tyres would account for a little below 3%.
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