“Romania was the highest growth country for our company last year.” These words are more and more often used in the statements companies in various fields of endeavour make when it comes to describing their business on this market.
American home appliances group Whirlpool is the last one to have announced Romania is making an increasingly stronger impact on its sales, particularly amid the slowdown on the Western market.
“Sales of home appliances in Western Europe in 2003 maintained at about the same level as in 2002, while growth in Central Europe was in excess of 10%. Romania, due to its over 40% growth, was the most dynamic market in Europe,” Filip Van der Linden, vice-president of Whirlpool’s sales division for Central Europe told Ziarul Financiar. He would not reveal how much Whirlpool’s growth on the Romanian market was worth, though.
“I can only say that the growth pace of our sales on the Romanian market outran the market’s growth pace,” Van der Linden said.
Whirlpool Romania officials were estimating an about 50 million-euro turnover last year, up approximately 50% from 2002.
“The growth induced by the lending systems in place last year turned Romania into a market of 1.5 million large home appliances products. This puts it second in Central Europe after Poland, which really means a lot,” Van der Linden added. He explained the large home appliances market in Central Europe was estimated at 8 million units a year.
“Central Europe accounts for nearly 20% of our sales worldwide and this percentage will only increase because this is the most dynamic region. This is precisely why we chose to invest 30 million euros in building a cooker factory in the region. It will most likely be located in Poland or Slovakia,” Van der Linden stated.
Whirlpool currently holds two factories in Central Europe, one of which is located in Slovakia and makes washing machines and the other is based in Poland and makes refrigerators.
“Our strategy does not include relocating production from Western European countries to Eastern Europe, but instead every factory either built or about to will add up to the already existing ones. After all, we are open to opportunities and reassessing them permanently depending on the market growth in a certain region,” Van der Linden specified.
Whirlpool has had a presence in Romania since 1992. At first it operated through a partner-sole dealer, and opened its own office four years later. The brands it sells in Romania are Whirlpool and Ignis and it is the leader of the washing machine and microwave segments, its officials say.