Furniture market in Romania is on the way to explode. Between 2002 and 2006, furniture market registered a “two-digit” growth, and the forecast for 2011 show the same accelerate evolution reaching EUR 1.1 billion in retail.

In Romania the mid-range furniture is dominant, but in the near future the market will polarise into lower quality/price and higher quality/price sectors. This fact still offers good opportunities for many players. According to estimates, over the period 2002 – 2006, premium furniture (high end price) registered the highest growth rate due to increasing purchasing power and a greater offer originated from import.

The retailing of household medium furniture (middle price) became more contracted around top 5 players which increased their share from 52.5% in 2004 to 63.6% in 2006. This is the result of increasing investments in retail chains of Mobexpert, Elvila and Staer. Romanian furniture manufacturers cover about 55% of domestic sales and imports about 45% of sales.

The year 2007 will bring the multinational on domestic market, which will increase competition. Thus, in March 2007, the first Ikea will be opened with an investment of EUR 25 million on 26,000 sq.m. This will influence local manfucaturers and the trend of “ready-to-assemble” furniture will emphasise.

Furniture market in Romania witness significant change and offer great opportunities. The differences between Romania and EU countries are huge. For household furniture, Romanians spent 10 times lower than average of EU 25.