Elvila five-month sales: $18m

Elvila, one of the leading furniture makers in Romania, posted more than 600bn ROL (some $18.5 million) turnover for the first five months of 2003 compared to the 419bn ROL ($13 million) for the same time last year. “Operating revenues went up 43% in this period, while operating expenses rose only 29% from last year,” Viorel Catarama, Elvila chairman and general manager told Ziarul Financiar. Exports account for about three quarters of the total sales of the company. This upward trend singles Elvila out, considering almost every producer is complaining about loss of major orders because of the decline of the European markets, where most of the domestic furniture output is sold. Business is slow for the furniture industry, because the European market, and especially Germany, is weak, the Association of Furniture Producers in Romania (APMR) says. Furniture exports rose only 7% in euros in Q1, compared with the 15% growth in 2002. ZF