The new facility will make about 1.1 million washing machines in 2019 only to double production over the coming years, the company officials say.
“In 2019, Arctic will complete construction of a high capacity washing machine plant,” says Marian Dan Serban, production and technologies director with the company.
This new over EUR100 million investment, one third of which in form of state aid, will drive the growth of Arctic’s business in Romania towards EUR1 billion, according to ZF estimates. This estimate takes into account the actual revenue of Arctic in 2017, almost half a billion euros and the production in its plant in Gaesti, 2.9 million refrigerators. Moreover, the estimate is based on the assumption that both plants operate at capacity.
Arctic, the largest actor on the local home appliances market, has a plant in Romania in Gaesti, Dambovita County, where it makes refrigerators and freezers.
It is also one of the main exporters of Romania, selling about 80% of its production abroad on 70 markets, its officials said.
Romania’s home appliances production overshot the EUR1 billion mark for the first time in 2017, after several years of growth driven by the opening of new plants (Kaercher) or the expansion of already existing ones (Philips in Orastie). Production more than doubled in 2008-2017.
New investments like Arcelik’s also lead to additional development, with some of its suppliers already announcing intention to build plants nearby, too.
(English versions by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)