ANALYSIS: The garage doors market is affected by prolonged recession

The economic crisis of the past six years, which has recorded in the construction sector, has affected - and, furthermore, has undermined - the garage doors segment demand and, especially, the automatic doors and automation sales - products which are usually installed in office buildings, malls, hotels etc. However, compliance with the European requirements in terms of energy efficiency and sustainability in buildings - with explicit provisions regarding increased user comfort and safety - should be enough momentum for the considered areas to regain their profitability, especially given that they are dominated by few significant suppliers, both nationally and globally, which proved to be extremely flexible in terms of innovation, integrated supply and orientation research and development. In an extensive study prepared by the Directorate General Environment of the European Commission aimed at procurement "green" garage doors are framed within a broader PRODCOM code (steel and other metals doors, thresholds for doors, windows and adjacent frames). The available data indicate that, in this segment, the most significant sales (number of units) are recorded in Poland, followed by Ireland and Germany. The largest production value is registered in Italy, Germany and France. Quantities of garage doors supplied on Polish market stands at 36% of total sales in the EU, but counts only 4% in the total value. The most interesting information quantified by Eurostat showing for 2010 (which is the new base year for all EU reporting researches) an European market volume of 56.7 million units of steel doors, worth 6.5 billion euro. In this structure, Romania have a total of 40,000 units per year (10.4 million euro), half in value compared to the same sector in Hungary (where are sold 245,000 units in an amount of 20 million euro). The consumption in the EU - which is calculated as the number of units that can be provided effectively in a period of 12 months - was estimated at 57.8 million units, with a 20.81% share of the total market of thermal insulating joinery.