BUSINESS NEWS: Optimistic medium-term forecasts for CEE windows industry

On the Eastern European windows market (without taking into consideration Ukraine and Russia), 2016 will be the first year of real growth of orders, after 2008. Although in 2015 is expected, at least in Eastern Europe, some declines of 1.5% in quantitative terms, in the next 12 months the market will progress with 1.7%, by the above mentioned point of view. Data on the possible evolution of this sector are contained in a research developed Interconnection Consulting Group - Austria, whose experts explained that this year will become a reference point (some sort of "threshold") for Eastern European joinery industry, with sales which will reach 11.5 million window units, amounting to 1.78 billion euro. In this research, referring to the present situation and the prospects  of the specific market, Dennis Rauen and Alexandra Pestova Rauen - the study authors - have explained that in the analyzed region including countries like Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Russia and Ukraine - the demand will narrow in the range of 2015-2018, but shares decline is due almost exclusively to the effects generated by the tense situation Russian-Ukrainian conflict. However, in the total amount of about 39.78 million window units and 5.35 billion euro reported by all companies in the field," the lion part lies for producers in the Russian Federation and Ukraine, with a share of 66.2% of the total. Eight years ago, this parameter was of 67.6%, placing this region also in the top position. The structural problems of some countries in Eastern Europe have caused for Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria to register a decline of -21.2% of supplies between 2008 and 2014, which means that those countries currently have only 8.1% of share. The Balkan states - which typically cover a relatively small market size - remain in the last position in the ranking, with a share of 3.2%, without this constituting a surprising situation. Obviously, after Russia and Ukraine, the second place is occupied by Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, with a 28.5% increase in the share in 2008-2014, from 17.5% to 22.5%.