Austrian trader Raiffeisen Ware Austria (RWA) entered Romania’s agricultural market at the beginning of the year when it set up a subsidiary called Raiffeisen Agro Romania, near Timisoara.

It plans to become a full agriculture service provider on the local market. The Romanian market has a good potential, despite some risks, the group’s managers Reinherd Wolf and Stefan Mayerhofer said at the annual press conference.

RWA employs over 300 people in its branches and affiliate companies in Hungary, Slovakia, Croatia, Serbia and Slovenia. These generate sales of about EUR 200 million. The turnover should double in five years, according to company estimates.

Last year, the group’s consolidated sales amounted to EUR 2.5 billion, down 7.3% compared to 2013. Bavarian group BayWa owns 50% of the company, whereas over 40 storage cooperatives from Austria own the other half.

Big international groups such as Alfred Toepfer, Cargill, Bunge, Ameropa, Glencore and Nidera are among the biggest traders of agricultural products in Romania. The biggest local traders are Aricover and Brise Group.

The top ten players has cumulated sales of some EUR 3 billion in 2013, according to Ziarul Financiar.

editor@romania-insider.com