Household appliance manufacturer Gorenje (Velenje / Slovenia; www.gorenje.com) recently started up a new EUR 20m production line for freezers and refrigerators in Valjevo / Serbia. The plant currently employs around 250 people and covers an area of some 30,000 m². During initial operation, between 200,000 and 250,000 freezers and refrigerators will be produced annually, but that output can be increased to up to 1m units. In addition to the Serbian market, the company intends to supply Montenegro, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Romania and Albania from Valjevo. Gorenje will decide whether to build other production facilities outside Slovenia before the end of 2006.

Gorenje claims to be the number seven in Europe for large domestic appliances, and aims to move up to fifth position by 2010. In 2005, the 47 companies in the three divisions – household appliances, home interior and machine/tool manufacturing – posted total sales of EUR 1.015 bn with a workforce of 10,500. Sales for 2006 are expected to reach EUR 1.018 bn.

Last year, the company produced 3.4m household appliances, of which 1.2m were freezers and refrigerators, 800,000 washing machines and dryers, and 1.4m cooking units. The export ratio was 90%. Some 60% of sales come from the EU, whereby Germany is the largest market, accounting for a third of this. European countries outside the EU make up 34%, while non-European sales are relatively small at 6%.

e-Service:
Gorenje Nine-Monthly Report 2006 as PDF document (413 KB)