Furniture output reaches 900m euros

The furniture market, one of the few streams of trade surplus for Romania, is starting to change its structure so as to favour imports. The reason behind this is the high demand for modern design furniture made in Italy or France. The imports of furniture have picked up speed in the last twelve months and progressed by some 19% in euros, while exports were slower, gaining only 7%, the data provided by the Association of Furniture Producers in Romania (APMR) show. While the foreign companies that have production facilities in Romania are selling their output to European Union markets, to the US and other high purchasing power countries, the Romanian consumers making above the average incomes are buying more and more furniture produced in Italy and France. Aurel Rizea, APMR chairman, says the high demand for imported furniture stems from the desire of the Romanians with above average incomes to be in sync with the latest design trend or own built-in home appliances and also products made by a well-known international brand. APMR data show the output of the over 2,000 furniture factories in Romania was worth approximately 900 million euros in 2003, 700 million euros’ worth of which (78%) was exported and 200 million euros’ worth was sold on the domestic market. ZF