Kronospan Romania posted more than 461.7 million lei (EUR104 million) revenue in 2012, up almost 38% year-on-year, according to the Finance Ministry website. Kronospan has two plants in Brasov and Sebes (central Romania), a logistics center in Constanta (SE Romania) and also owns Kronospan Sepal, an equipment and machinery leasing company.
“We hope to see 15% growth in revenue on 2012 by yearend, but the season is only beginning for us. Exports increased by at least 20% last year,” Oana Bodea, general manager Kronospan Romania told ZF Transilvania.
“We continued our partnerships on our already traditional markets but also looked at farther away markets.”
The market was very slow in Romania in the first half, but foreign markets continued to develop, Oana Bodea said.
“The start of the year was quite difficult and we had to raise prices to offset the increase in raw material and utility costs. Though we did it carefully and gradually, the market had a hard time digesting it.”
Kronospan Romania’s customers are do-it-yourself stores, as well as construction supplies dealers. The company exports its products to Asia, Middle East and South America.
The five largest wood industry companies in Romania, Holzindustrie Schweighofer, Kronospan Sebes, Egger, Kastamonu and Romsilva posted more than EUR1.2 billion revenue last year, up 14% on 2011. The EUR1.2 billion was calculated by taking into account only the largest company in the group, as some foreign players have several entities in Romania.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)