Romania in 2013 had 201 companies left in the field of detergent, soap and cleaning product manufacturing and the top five players hold almost 70% of total output, according to ZF calculations based on Trade Registry data.
Procter&Gamble, with the plants of Timisoara and Urlati, Greek-held InterstarChim and Unilever are the most important players in the field. They are followed by two smaller businesses developed by entrepreneurs of Lebanon and Iran.
Both P&G and Unilever plants sent a large part of production abroad. Thus, the two production units owned by P&G have focused on exports. Thus, around 90% of goods manufactured in Urlati and around half of those produced in Timisoara are sent abroad. Half of Unilever’s plants in Ploiesti goes to markets of Western Europe, Asia and Africa, while the rest remains in the region, namely in the states of Central and Eastern Europe.
At the opposite end, InterstarChim has bet on the local market and has in the past decade climbed onto the second position among the biggest local producers, with revenue of 106 million lei. At present, exports account for only 5% for the company controlled by Greek Eureka.
Romania’s production of detergent, soap and cleaning goods has undergone a series of changes in recent years, with the shutdown of some large plants making room for some entrepreneurial businesses that are taking their first steps in the battle with multinationals.
Thus, in late 2013, the top five players controlled almost 70% of the market, from 83% in 2008 and almost 90% in 2002. The most important change is the shutdown of Colgate-Palmolive plant of Brasov in 2008. The US giant retained only wholesale operations locally, giving up the plant that employed 190 people.
However, companies operating on the local market in 2013 manufactured detergent, soap and cleaning products worth just RON500 million (EUR113 million), according to Trade Registry data.
Thus, production is around 32% lower than exports of such products. The gap can be accounted for by some companies having not reported their 2013 figures and by the existence of companies that initially import products in Romania and then export them to other markets.
At the other end, imports of detergent, soap and cleaning products reached EUR232.3 million last year, relatively flat from 2008. However, imports are still 41% higher than exports along this category.
(English version by Catalina Apostoiu)