Success story: The General director of the company "Ambianta" about the "invasion" of European products on the local market

"Ambianta" is one of the furniture companies with the biggest experience in the local market, but also own the largest network of shops. It produces furniture for kitchens, living rooms and bedrooms, including orthopedic mattresses. One year after the entry into force of the provisions of the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement (DCFTA) we tried to find out if the company's activity was affected in some way by the new regulations. The success story was elaborated within the UK-MD project „Reform Assistance to Moldova”, initiated by the UK Government.

The statistics show that the EU is the largest trading partner of Moldova, covering over 50% of country's foreign trade. It is expected that DCFTA will give a strong impulse to economic growth of the country.

Because it uses raw material at European standards, with European production equipment, the company's first exports in the EU countries were registered long before the signing and entry into force of the Association Agreement between Moldova and the European Union. The factory management admits that the production of furniture has certain privileges and DCFTA did not brought major changes.

"We found out about the provisions of the Agreement from the Ministry of Economy, when we were invited by the Union of furniture manufacturers to participate at a roundtable. Then we became familiar with the latest news and information which is quite accessible. We did not have export excises and even now we do not have. So we can not say that immediately after the implementation of the DCFTA something changed and affected us or, conversely, facilitated the work”, said the general director of the company "Ambianta”, Dorin Dumbraveanu.

After the entry into force of DCFTA there were fears that the local market will be flooded with European products. This fears were not true says the entrepreneur: "This failed to happen because we have the price advantage. We offer a better price".

The distribution network of the factory is over 130 partnerships throughout the country and over 100 dealers in Romania. If until now the company only had sales in the neighboring country, "Ambianta” is preparing at the moment to launch a production project in other European countries.

However, in the last period is observed changes in the field of taxes and reporting procedures.

"If we make a comparison between Moldova and Romania in terms of permits, we can not say that here things are worse than in the neighboring country. Instead, we should note that have increased taxes for advertising placement. Many of our dealers have taken out the advertising because taxes greatly increased and the authorization procedure has become more complicated", testifies the sales manager of the company, Igor Vatamaniuc.

However, what is the secret of a successful business in Moldova?

Igor Vatamaniuc, the sales manager of the company: "You must be courageous. If certain opportunities appeared, you must take the chance. Don’t wait until someone comes up and tell you what to do."

Source: www.agora.md