Romanian Clothing Industry: External Market Vs. Internal Market

In this paper we emphasize the particularities of the clothing industry market, which requested certain processing of data from the Statistics National Institute, the Economy and Commerce Ministry and the Commerce International Organization. To this end, it was noticed that the products of the clothing industry are mainly for export. Approximately 85% of the clothing products of our country are exported Romania‟s clothing export being directed mainly to the European community‟s countries. The data presented in the paper note the decrease of total exports of the clothing industry in our country, as well as those in the European Union during this last period, which indicates a similar evolution of the Romanian specialized sector on its traditional consumption market. The export performances of the companies in the Romanian clothing industry registered a descending course during the last years, in disagreement, in our opinion, to their productive and commercial potential. In regards to the products intended by the local clothing companies for the internal market, it was noticed that they are characterized by a low sophistication degree, being extremely different in terms of price, quality and distribution circuit as compared to the products sold on international markets. The poor competitive nature of the internal market clothing companies is due both to the ineffective sales and marketing activities, as well as to the decreased financial force of the population. The remarkable and insufficiently exploited potential of the internal market was observed, while the clothing industry producers in Romania should consider its capitalization at the highest level on top of their interest. Though, this remains an extremely difficult process, considering the modest financial force of the population, combined with the aggressive penetration of the foreign products on the internal market.