At the beginning of October the Indesit Company, an Italian producer of home appliances, will launch dishwasher and washing machine factories in Radomsko. At the moment, the company has two facilities in Poland, at which ovens and refrigerators are produced. The total amount invested in Poland by the firm has, therefore, reached €240m.
Indesit expects its factories to turn out 4m units in 2009, when the new plants reach their full capacity. In 2008 the group expects to produce 2.9m items in Poland, 10% of which are to be sold on the Polish market. According to GfK Polonia, after the first half of the year Indesit will be the fourth largest player in terms of sales value in the Polish large domestic appliance market, holding 12.5%, after Bosch Group (BSH), Electrolux and Whirlpool, and ahead of Amica. In terms of sales volume, the Italian company is the front runner and holds 14.6% of the market.
Indesit expects that the Polish home appliances market will be worth 10% more by the end of 2008 in contrast with 2007, which is significant in comparison with the stagnating markets in a number of European countries. The profitability of the producers is, however, declining, because of rising inflation and falling prices.