Satu Mare - Economy

Economy

Satu Mare benefits from its proximity to the borders with Hungary and Ukraine, which makes it a prime location for logistical and industrial parks.

Companies that have established production facilities in Satu Mare are Voestalpine, Dräxlmaier Group, Gotec Group, Anvis Group, Schlemmer, Casco Schützhelme and Zollner Elektronik in the industrial sector; FrieslandCampina in the food sector; Radici Group in the textile sector; and Saint-Gobain and Boissigny in the wood industry.

Currently the largest private employer in Satu Mare is the German automotive company Dräxlmaier Group which owns since 1998 an electric engine components factory in the city and has around 3,600 employees. The factory supplies automotive wiring especially to the German car manufacturer Daimler AG but it also supplied wiring to another car manufacturer Porsche for its Porsche Panamera model. The Swedish company Electrolux owns a kitchen stove factory in the city acquired in 1997, that has a surface area of 52,000 square metres (560,000 sq ft) and 1,800 employees. The facility has an annual production capacity of around 1.2 million units and the majority of the Zanussi brand kitchen stoves in Europe are manufactured there. The Austrian company Voestalpine owns, since 2004, a steel tubes production facility with an annual capacity of 50 million units per year. The German company Arcandor has its main Romanian office established in Satu Mare. The subsidiary, accounting for the region formed by Romania and Hungary, is the most important amongst the 16 subsidiaries in Europe in terms of the percentage of sales through online orders having in 2008 total orders of €19.3 million. The company also owns a 40,000 square metres (430,000 sq ft) logistic facility and a call center in the city.

Satu Mare's retail sector is fairly well-developed; a number of international companies such as Real, Kaufland, Billa, Metro Point and Interex have supermarkets or hypermarkets in the city. There is also a DIY store, a Praktiker, and several small malls: Grand Mall of 6,000 square metres (65,000 sq ft), Plaza Europa of 3,000 square metres (32,000 sq ft) and the largest, Someşul Mall, of 13,000 square metres (140,000 sq ft).

There is also an industrial park called Satu Mare Industrial Park located at the edge of the city on a 70 ha surface.