The construction market is escalating in Romania and that has made Romanian furniture manufacturers that used to export their production shift their focus onto the domestic market.
However, the statistics of the Association of Furniture Manufacturers of Romania suggest that, in 2006, Romania exported EUR 964 M worth of furniture which makes the country the world’s 22nd largest furniture exporter.
France, Germany, Italy, Great Britain and The Netherlands are the main countries of destination for the Romanian furniture exports, while Romanian companies import the commodity from Italy, Germany and Poland. But Romanian exports were affected by the appreciation of the local currency in 2006 and in the former half of 2007, as well as by the higher raw material prices.
‘Furniture exporters complain about the high prices of raw materials as well as about the appreciation of the national currency by nearly eight per cent this year. For that reason there are factories that reported losses from foreign contracts’ stated the Executive President of the Association of Furniture Producers and Importers (APMR), Aurel Rizea, at a press conference. Even so, furniture exports went up nearly 10 per cent in the first half of 2007, say the producers.
They expect no notable rise in the price of furniture in 2007. ‘There are no special reasons why we should increase prices’ explained Rizea, who nevertheless admits the possibility of furniture prices going up but only s a result of the higher energy prices. On the other hand, wages in the sector are much lower than those paid in the EU. The gross average salary paid to a worker in the furniture manufacturing industry is EUR 220. ‘In France or Italy the gross average salary in the industry is about seven times higher than in Romania, and in Hungary it is three times higher’ said Rizea.
BIFE-TIMB 2007 opens next week
550 companies are expected to the BIFE-TIMB 2007 furniture fair at Romexpo from September 5 through September 9, 25 per cent of them being from abroad. The number of exhibitors is higher by 21 per cent than last year. Companies from 17 countries are expected: Austria, Bulgaria, Denmark, The Russian Federation, France, Germany, The Hellenic Republic, Italy, The Republic of Moldova, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Turkey, and Hungary. The exhibition area has been extended by 10 per cent compared to the previous edition, reaching 55,000 sq m. by Alexandra Spanu