Germany’s Claas is a world giant and posted EUR3.3 billion in revenue last year.
“The Romanian market is next after Germany, France and Poland. We sold 160 tractors and 196 combines here last year. Our target is a 40% market share for combines and 15% to 20% for tractors,” said Luigi Radu, sales and marketing manager of Claas in Romania. According to the available information, a combine costs EUR40,000 to EUR250,000, while a tractor may cost as much as EUR200,000.
The trend of the sales of agricultural machinery in Romania can be explained by the saturation of the Western European markets compared with those in Eastern Europe. The difference between the two sides of the continent can be seen in the sales of the manufacturer. Whereas its Western European business went up 24% in 2011, in Central and Eastern Europe it grew by two thirds. Claas sold EUR48.5 million worth of combines and tractors in Romania last year, that is 8.6% of the total sales in the region. “Sales were slightly up on 2010,” Radu added, without revealing the sales figures for the previous year.
The local market of agricultural machinery took off after 2007 when Romania joined the EU and funding became available for farmers via investment programs sponsored by Brussels. Whereas importers and manufacturers sold 1,100 tractors in 2007, the market went up to 1,800 last year. The same goes for the combine market, which reached 566 new units sold in 2011.
Under the circumstances, Claas took the first determined step on the Romanian market by opening a center in Afumati, a few kilometers away from Bucharest, which it will use to supervise operations on the local market and delivery of spare parts. The manufacturer sells tractors and combines via four dealers. The investment in Afumati was worth EUR2.2 million and was made several months after Titan Machinery, the largest dealer of agricultural machinery in the United States, arrived in Romania.
Claas has no plans to build an agricultural machinery plant in Romania, at the moment, the Romanian officials of the manufacturer said.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)