Economic
Carrefour posts 5.8% sales decline in Q2
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
French retailer, Carrefour, that has a 22-hypermarket chain and 29 supermarket s across Romania, said its sales fell 5.8% from the same period of last year, to €265 million.In the first six months this year, the decline was 0.4% year-on-year to €534 million in Romania.According to the financial report published on the website of the company recorded global revenues of €48.9 billion, which indicates a 5.9% hike.“Amid a contracting market, we had solid sales in the first ...
Negative Experience With Telecom Operators Made 44% Of Romanians Terminate Contracts
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Nearly half the customers of Romanian telecom operators (44%), dissatisfied with the service they received, have stopped using the supplier and 72% have told others about their negative experience, says a study by GfK Romania."Following a negative experience, a company loses more than a single customer - it can lose the business of those influenced by the negative feedback of the dissatisfied customer, its public image suffers and it stands less chance of these customers buying its services ...
ABI: VAT hike would not bring property market to a standstill
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
The VAT hike’s impact over the property market in Romania will be indirect only, by the household income decline, but it will not bring the real estate industry to a complete standstill, said the Association of the Real Estate Brokers (ABI).“This aspect is due to the fact that the selling prices of old apartments, don’t include VAT”, representatives of ABI said. A 5% VAT hike will have no impact over the selling prices of new apartments either.“The value added tax applied to these ...
Biggest “real estate project”: Unirii apartments, worth one billion euros
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
The around 6,000 apartments located on Unirii Boulevard of Bucharest, between the Parliament Palace and Piata Alba Iulia, have a market value of approximately 1bn euros, and can be considered the biggest real estate project ever carried out in Romania, especially if investments in the People's House (Casa Poporului - currently the Parliament Palace) are taken into account. Project construction lasted for more than ten years, with the goal of Nicolae Ceausescu being to provide ...
Wine producers flee VAT hike and seek salvation in China and Hong Kong
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Wine producers, coping with market declines for two years, have found their salvation on the Asian continent, with China and Japan as the newest export destinations. The contracts the firms have already sealed in these areas are laying the groundwork for deliveries to the region to go beyond 20m euros in the next five years, considering Romania's overall wine exports revolved around 15m euros last year alone. Wine producers have decided to try their luck in China after domestic consumption ...
How much prices of food and beverages have increased after VAT hike
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Food and beverages have become 7% more expensive on average after the VAT raise by 5% as of 1 July, shows ZF's food index based on prices in Bucharest's Carrefour and Real hypermarkets.The analysis considered shelf prices of 19 of the best-selling products in hypermarkets. Carrefour and Real are the biggest hypermarket chains on the Bucharest market in terms of the number of stores operated, accounting for around half the hypermarket segment at national level. Data centralised ...
Top 5 food retail networks
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Germany's Kaufland was the only player in the ranking of the five biggest players in modern food retail to register a profit leap last year, on a market where the crisis ate into companies' profit margins, according to the data operators reported to the Trade Registry. In the absence of organic sales increases, major retailers cut their profit margins to 2-3% last year from 3-5% in 2008, with the steepest decline being posted on the cash & carry store segment, viewed as the most mature ...
Over 68% Of Retailers In Romania Up Prices Following VAT Hike – Survey
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Over 68% of retailers in Romania have decided to increase prices following the Government’s decision to raise the value added tax to 24% from 19%, while only 31.71% said they are keeping prices unchanged, according to a survey released last Tuesday. The survey, conducted by Soft Mentor, which provides stock control software solutions for supermarkets and warehouses, also found that 78% of retailers that have kept prices unchanged on July 1 plan to hike them when they receive new and more ...
Over 1,000,000 online card tradings over the first part of 2010
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Over the first six months of 2010 there were 1,195,000 online card tradings, double the number of the same period of last year, according to the data offered by Romcard. During this interval, the value of online e- commerce with card reached the sum of 68.5 million euro, up by 60% against the first part of 2009. In the epaument system there were processed 1,137,000 tradings, for a value of 65.5 million euro. „E-commerce with online card payment keeps the upward trend recoreded over the first ...
G’market and Bebeloo will not rise prices after VAT increase
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
More and more retailers decide to support the VAT increase from 19% to 24% from their own pocket, and the chain stores G’market and Bebeloo are some of them. G’market announced it would maintain prices unchanged in the following period to comply with the clients’ needs.“In a difficult period when VAT has grown to 24% G’market wants to help clients by offering them the same conditions as before. We decided to maintain prices and support the 5% VAT difference,” said Oana Leahu, financial ...
Romanian CFR Calatori Seeks RON30M Credit Line
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Romanian state-owned railway company CFR Calatori seeks a 30 million lei (EUR1=RON4.2320) revolving credit line to refinance a loan and for working capital, the company announced.The loan will be taken for one year, with a possibility to extend the repayment interval. The passenger transport company will guarantee the loan with rolling stock and the company's current accounts.According to the announcement, the contract will be awarded following negotiations, and bids may be filed by July 20. ...
EC report: Real car prices dropped 10% in average in Romania in 2009
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
The real average prices for cars, counting inflation, dropped in 24 of the 27 EU member states in 2009, with a 10.1% fall in Romania during last year, according to an European Commission report. Prices dropped most in Slovenia (about 13%), but grew in countries such as Britain or Sweden.While car prices at EU level remained law last year, post-sale services got more expensive during the year.Besides Slovenia, prices dropped most in Lituania (-11.1%), Slovakia (-11%), Romania ...
The Romanian car market dropped by 42% in Q1 Dacia holds 32% of the market, Volkswagen, Skoda and Renault about 9%
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
In the first six months almost 37,000 cars were registered in our country, 42% less than in the first quarter of 2009 official data reveals. Compared to May, in June registration increased by 20%. In the first quarter, Dacia registered decreases amounting to 37%, Ford dropped by 32% and Volkswagen by 45%. Audi sales diminished by 47% and BMW sales remained constant. Ferrari orders doubled. In June, over 500 Duster cars were registered.In June, 10,200 new cars registered, a 7% decreased ...
Countering data roaming bill shocks
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Customers roaming in another EU Member State no longer need to worry about accidentally running up huge bills when surfing the web using mobile networks via a mobile phone or computer when abroad in the EU. Thanks to the EU's roaming rules, travellers' data-roaming limit will be automatically set at €50 (unless they have chosen another limit – higher or lower. As of 1 July 2010, the Roaming Regulation foresees the following:• Operators will have to impose a monthly default cut-off for ...
Basescu enacted law on the loan for the metro line modernization
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
President Traian Basescu enacted the Law on the €395 million finance contract with the European Investment Bank to support the modernization of Bucharest metro line, Drumul Taberei – Universitate section.The Senate has passed the Law on June 16 with 65 votes to 12.The project envisages the construction of a 9km metro section linking Drumul Taberei to Universitate and to Pantelimon, with a total budget of €883 million, the state contributing with €488 million.The loan from the European ...
Works start on new road bridge over Danube-Black Sea Canal
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
State secretary with the Transport Ministry Marin Anton on Monday inaugurated construction works on a new road bridge over the Danube-Black Sea canal, in the couth-eastern county of Constanta, which will be located downstream the Agigea lock.Spokesperson for the National Constanta Maritime Port Administration (CNAPMC) Monica Velicu says the bridge, an investment project worth nearly 23 million euros, was initiated in 2005 and its construction now is secured by structural funds ...
Romania’s 2010 Wheat Output Nearly Compromised By Heavy Rainfall
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Romania’s wheat output will drop to less than half the output forecast at the beginning of the year because of heavy rainfall during the past weeks, which has compromised crops, Nicolae Sitaru, head of Farmers’ League (LAPAR), told MEDIAFAX last Tuesday."Because of rains during the past weeks, output will drop this year. It'll be a disaster," Sitaru said, adding wheat crops in the south and east of the country could not be harvested because of rain. "Lat year, we had a wheat output ...
Gov't to pay 2011 subsidies of RON 350 million to cattle and sheep farmers
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
The Romanian Government will pay subsidies of RON 350 million (nearly 82.353 million) in 2011 to the local animal breeding sector for the cattle and sheep farmers, Finance Minister Sebastian Vladescu reported on Monday after a meeting with farmers' associations.Vladescu said he is dissatisfied with the very poor yields of the Romanian agriculture despite its continual subsidising 20 years.'We fail to modernise the Romanian agriculture. Today's talks have made it clear to ...
Romanian Tour Operators Keep Prices Unchanged After VAT Hike
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Romanian tour operators members of the National Association of Tour Operators, or ANAT, won’t raise prices on summer vacation packages after the 5-point hike in the value added tax, the association said in a statement Thursday.It said tour operators are making efforts to keep prices unchanged after the Government raised the VAT to 24% from 19% as of July 1, as demand is already low because of the crisis.According to ANAT, sales for certain tourist destinations have dropped 20-40% on the year ...
Number Of Tourists Entering Romania In May Down 0.1% YY
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
The number of tourists entering Romania was 0.1% lower in May compared with the same month a year before, while the number of tourists accommodated was up 1.3% on the year, the National Institute For Statistics, or INS, said Monday. Romanian tourists accounted for 74.4% of the total, while foreign tourists represented 25.6% in May, similar with the same period a year before. The number of foreign tourists that entered Romania in May was 4.1% lower compared with May 2009, INS release reads. ...