“We did not have to take harsh steps in Romania. Our only concern was cost efficiency and to closely monitor customers’ operations so as to make sure we provide them with the necessary prices and solutions and collect our bills on time,” Luminita Teodorescu, general manager of BASF SRL, the local subsidiary of the German group told ZF in an interview.
BASF posted growth of 30% in Romania in 2011.
“All the divisions operating in Romania posted growth compared with the previous year and this is because of the better performance of the Romanian industry and to us promoting the new products,” says Luminita Teodorescu, who did not provide any details about the total turnover of BASF on the local market.
The German group operates via two companies in Romania, BASF SRL and BASF Coatings Services SRL, which posted 165.7 million lei (EUR38 million) in cumulated turnover in 2010, according to the Finance Ministry. The figure does not include the entire revenue made by the BASF in Romania, considering plants of the group (especially those in Germany) sell products directly to customers in this country.
One third of BASF sales were generated by the construction and construction supplies sector in Romania last year, while 19% came from products for use in plant protection and livestock farming and 15% were made to the automotive industry. The rest of the sales were accounted for by products used in home appliances, pharmaceutical, cosmetics industries or other branches of the chemical industry.
BASF currently has more than 200 customers in Romania operating in various sectors such as automotive (Dacia Renault, Ford, Johnson Controls), home appliances (Arctic), consumer goods (Procter & Gamble), chemistry and petrochemistry (Oltchim, Rompetrol), construction (Fabryo, Policolor, Henkel, Lafarge, Holcim, Carpat Beton) and pharmaceuticals and cosmetics (Zentiva, Europharm and Farmec).
The German group owns a concrete additives plant near Ploiesti (southern Romania), which it opened in 2007. The plant’s capacity initially stood at 5,000 tons per year and employees were working in one shift, but was later expanded to 11,000 tons. Total investment was in excess of EUR2 million.
Although it budgeted turnover growth for 2012, BASF’s boss admits that there are still uncertainties and challenges on the market.
“One of the challenges is the low financing and the limited funds that smaller clients or those operating in construction and agriculture sectors have. Another challenge is the presence of cheap products coming from China and Korea on the market,” Teodorescu says.
The infrastructure projects where BASF products are used include the Basarab Overpass and the National Arena stadium in Bucharest.
(English version by Loredana Frățilă-Cristescu)