Romanian glass, all for export

The bulk of the Romanian glass output is exported. Vases, glasses, painted plates, produced in Targu Jiu for instance, can be rather found at the large US retailers, instead of the Romanian shops. Therefore, smaller and larger firms alike are making considerable financial efforts to attend the consumer goods fairs worldwide in order to increase their sales on foreign markets. “The entire output is exported,” says Virgil Kappes, owner of Tg. Jiu-based Euroglas plant, adding that he would however try to build a distribution network in Romania as well. “The value of our exports ranges between 3,000 and 6,000 dollars per month, but, despite our collaboration with several Romanian-based shops, less than 20% of our production is sold locally,” adds Adrian Dinu, owner of Buzau-based Vitrocolor plant. How is this possible? “In Romania there are no fairs, nobody is interested in creating a market and large plants, which should have been thriving by now, have gone bankrupt,” Dinu says. ZF