Furniture industry revives due to increased sales abroad
The furniture sector is one of the traditional sectors in Bulgarian economy. This sector could be described with shrinking consumption on the local market, dominant position of the big retail chains operating on the Bulgarian market and growing sales abroad. The export of furniture marked a 7% growth in 2012. This was mainly due to the sales on the European market where 70% of the total furniture was sold. This was also caused by the increased purchase orders for batch production aimed for the big retail chains which offer their items at the international markets.
On the other hand, the serious fluctuations in the sales on the local market are explained with the economic crisis and the limited local consumption in Bulgaria. After the penetration of foreign world companies in the Bulgarian market, it saw serious changes. However, the negative forecasts for massive bankruptcies of Bulgarian companies did not come true. The local manufacturers managed to reach a high quality of their produce and compete successfully with the big retail chains in this sector. Only 8% of all companies in this field were closed down after the start of the economic crisis. The number of people who got redundant is very small and was mainly caused by the crisis and the need of technological renovation.
According to most experts in this field, the access to European financing should be broadened so that the sector can continue to make technological improvement with EU subsidies rather than with own money. This would lead to higher competitiveness of the Bulgarian factories and more successful development of this sector in the future.
Source: http://bnr.bg/
Photo: BGNES