British Vita PLC opens facility in Timisoara

The strong expansion of the furniture industry in Romania is starting to show its "vertical" effects. As more and more international players in this industry are entering the Romanian market, so do their traditional suppliers.

One such supplier is the UK's British Vita PLC, a world leader in specialist polymer technology, whose revenues amount to more than $1.6bn a year. The group will open a foam conversion factory in Timisoara this year, as a result of its Central and Eastern Europe expansion strategy.

"Romania has benefited from a rapid expansion in furniture and bedding manufacture, brought about through recent investment by Western European furniture manufacturers. As with Vita's move into Hungary, this strategic investment will follow existing customers into a new country and will allow Vita to continue to supply them with the full range of foam products." This is how the British group views its Romanian investment.

The conversion factory in Timisoara will be supplied with block foam from Vita's foam production facility in Paks, Hungary. The Romanian facility will become operational in the third quarter of this year.

The British group did not say how much the investment in Romania would be worth or how big the new factory's business would be. Ziarul Financiar approached its officials for comment but none were provided by press time.

The foam the British group produces in Romania can be used by several industries (furniture, transports, constructions), but the main reason behind this investment was the powerful growth of the furniture industry in the last few years when foreign investors entered this market.

There are more than 2000 furniture factories across Romania, registering nearly 900 million euros in output last year, up 7.3% from 2002. About 80% of total output was exported.

The European furniture producers that have started to invest in Romania are big industry names.

Italy's Natuzzi bought sofa maker Italsofa in Baia Mare and invested over 20 million euros in the company during the last year alone. The Swedes at Ikea, the European leader, have their own furniture factory in Siret, while Ciatti S.p.A, another Italian company, is building a factory to make furniture for electronic goods in Sebes, Alba County.

"The products from this industry are largely for export out of Romania, but with a population of 22 million and increasing prosperity, this industry will more and more service the local market," Vita officials estimate. Main destinations of Romania's furniture exports are the European Union countries - Germany (nearly 20%), France (18%), The Netherlands (some 11%) and Italy (10%).
laurentiu.ispir@zf.ro