The furniture market will increase 10% for its second consecutive year, despite of a somewhat poorer exports performance for the first part of this year, analysts in the field estimate.
The producers had been blaming the European market decline for affecting their businesses in the first part of this year, although Romanian companies' exports increased 5-6% in euros. #leadend#The furniture industry basically lives off exports, considering 80% of the production is sold abroad and the EU is the main market for the Romanian companies.
Still, this industry starts recovering and the Furniture Producers Association in Romania (APMR) says the furniture sales could increase 10%. The domestic market could provide such an opportunity and companies try to boost sales in Romania by promoting the hire purchase system.
"The situation has somewhat brightened. We are currently completing the orders and the deliveries, and, even though we have not registered a 10% growth for the first half, we hope for a better evolution in the second half," Violeta Anton, economic manager of the furniture producer Alprom, said. "The first part was syncopated and we are looking forward to the next half. Even if the EU market prefers to wait and see now, we have a lot of work to do," she added.
On the other hand, Dan Viorel Sucu, chairman of Mobexpert - the leading Romanian company in the field - considers 10% growth to be quite an optimistic estimation, but not unachievable. "The furniture production will not go down this year, it will be steady or even go up slightly, so I find the 10% growth estimate optimistic, but not impossible to attain," Sucu stated.
The furniture production last year amounted up to $785 million, out of which exports represented $614.4 million. Consequently, the domestic producers' sales on the Romanian market increased to some $170 million in 2002, while the imports reached about $100 million, which makes up a total market of $270 million.
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