Nokia’s plant in Jucu, Cluj (northwestern Romania) had reached turnover of EUR1.5 billion in less than five years’ time and had over 2,000 temporary employees. It was also Romania’s second exporter after car maker Dacia.
But the effects of the Finnish company’s decision to close down its plant and move operations to Vietnam spread even further.
Suppliers and partners of Nokia in Cluj are now forced to fire several hundred people this year.
Logistics firm Ceva Logistics, which came to Romania in 2007 and had a contract with Nokia, will cut 300 jobs as a result of Nokia’s departure, according to information from the Cluj employment agency.
At the end of 2010, the logistical operator had turnover of EUR8 million and 400 employees.
“The plant closure will have an impact on our turnover. We built 2012 budget taking into account Nokia’s departure and forecasts on Romania’s main macroeconomic indicators. But Cluj is an area with well-skilled workforce, so I think there will be other investors coming to Jucu,” said Cristian Ofiteru, country manager of Ceva Logistics.
These are the first effects of Nokia’s exit on some local companies. Securitas Services, the company that provided security services for the Jucu plant, also started mass layoffs, as did temporary work agents Lugera&Makler and Trenkwalder.
In addition to Nokia’s departure, the list of bad news last year also includes the relocation of ING’s services center from Cluj to Hungary, the relocation of Coca-Cola plants from Iasi to the Republic of Moldova, and of Nestle and Kraft to Bulgaria.
Investors’ exits add to the failure to attract more foreign investments.
Foreign direct investment (FDI) collapsed in 2011 and reached an eight-year low, despite the economy returning to positive territory.
Signals for 2012 are not very encouraging given the risk of continued tension on international markets and of European economies returning to recession. Other risks concern domestic uncertainties linked to this being an election year.
At a time when competition between countries over foreign investments becomes very tough, the Romanian government has been in no hurry to even finalize the strategy to attract more international investors this year. “We are at the stage of devising a strategy for 2012. It will probably be completed in February,” says Constantin Matei Lapadat, general manager of the Romanian Center for Promoting Trade and Foreign Investments.
(English version by Daniela Stoican)