Siretul Pascani in the red

Textile company Siretul Pascani has seen its turnover shrink by 62.4% during the first half of 2005 to a total of 14.48 million RON (4.1 million euros), from the 23.19 million RON (6.58 million euros) seen in the same period of 2004. The company posted 250,000 RON (about 70,000 euro) losses in the first half of 2005, having made 617,000 euros in profits in the same period of 2004. The losses are due to the drop in the exchange rate in the first quarter of 2005, combined with the increased prices for utilities and raw materials. These factors influenced turnover, as half of the first quarter output was scheduled for export. Company officials said the financial results were also affected by the high level of competition on the domestic market from the large supply of products imported from China and Turkey at very low prices. This led to a 6% decline in first-half turnover for the domestic market compared with the same period last year. ZF