Arctic looks to increase exports to Europe

Arctic Gaesti, the biggest local manufacturer of refrigerators, has invested 10.3 million euros in equipment upgrades and increasing production this year, in order to boost exports to the European Union. “We are making massive investments in our quality system and in human resources, we are not just quantitatively increasing production capacity, as we want Romania to be our main export centre to Western Europe, which is our main market,” said Ugur Kayali, general manager of Arctic Romania. Since the takeover of the Romanian plant in 2003, the Turkish group has invested almost 36 million euros, and has earmarked a development budget worth approximately 10 million euros for next year. “Export is the catalyst behind our growth, and in order to export 80% of our production next year, we have transferred our manufacturing of products with a smaller added value to other centres in Europe, in order to produce higher quality home appliances in Romania,” added the general manager. This year, Arctic anticipates it will export about 65% of the refrigerators manufactured in Gaesti, about 690,000 units.