Romanian Car Mkr Dacia Halts Production Btw Nov 20- Dec 7

Dacia union leader, Nicolae Pavelescu, said the employees would receive 85% of their gross salaries, in accordance with the collective labor contract, adding they already received food vouchers for the days in which operations were halted.

"Due to the brutal decreases in the auto markets, even though it is a success in export, where the market share is widening, as well as in Romania, Dacia is forced to halt production between November 20 and December 7, 2008," a press release of Dacia read.

However, the CKD center (packs of car parts meant for exports and assembly in other plants) will continue its activity between November 20 and December 7, Dacia mentioned.

The widening of the financial and economic crisis in October triggered an important decrease in auto markets, including the Romanian one, Dacia said.

The auto market dropped in October 2008 by some 30% in Romania, compared to October 2007, in Spain by 40%, Great Britain by 23%, Sweden by 22.7%, Italy by 18.9%, Germany by 8% and France by 6.2%. This trend will probably continue in the upcoming months," Dacia also said in its press release.

Dacia mentioned that, since the global market dropped by 9% in October 2008 compared to the similar period in 2007, Dacia exports grew 20.2%.

However, the increase in Dacia’s market shares cannot make up for the massive decrease of auto markets across Europe, Dacia said.

Dacia reported a 24.5% increase in last year’s revenue, to 7.2 billion lei (RON1-EUR3.8421), from RON5.78 billion, while its net profit rose 17.2%, to RON442.34 million from RON377.27 million.

In the first nine months of the year, Dacia sold 194,165 cars, registering a 17% increase in sales compared to the similar period of the previous year.