Hardest hit markets in first half

Sixteen of the twenty markets analysed by ZF witnessed a decline in the first half. Sales of cigarettes, cars, cement and furniture are the hardest hit. Private medical services, pharmaceutical market, electricity and gas consumption were on the rise, though.

According to the data collected by ZF from the players operating on the twenty key markets in terms of consumption, only four have managed to overcome the crisis: private clinics, pharmaceuticals, electricity and natural gases.
The rest of the fields, such as automotive, wood and furniture industry, cement, construction, petroleum products, textile industry and telecommunications, saw the crisis continuing to eat into the business of the most important local companies. As far as cigarettes are concerned, the number of packs sold is 30% lower, even though the market has not been following the same trend in terms of value, given the rise in cigarette prices.
The explanation for the increase on the gas market, where consumption rose by 10% in the first half, resides in the contracts of the major fertiliser producers, which have been using only cheap gas produced in Romania for well over a year now.
Whereas major petroleum industry companies are helped by the rise in pump prices and in the petroleum price, the salvation of such sectors as the construction industry which should come from the state in form of infrastructure investments, is still nowhere in sight.
Managers of the most important companies in Romania say that the spending cut the Government resorted to was the natural thing to do, but this decision alone without any support from measures to boost revenues does not make any impact, though.