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Hardware goods and car sales enjoy brisk growth in Finland

17/06/2010

Major retailers report encouraging sales growth and good prospects for 2010

Sales of hardware goods in Finland have started growing during the late spring 2010. Sales have grown by more than fifth compared to the same period one year ago, according to Kesko, a leading Finnish retail chain. Statistics from the Association for the Hardware and Furnishing Trade show that sales increased by 10% in period January-May 2010, promising annual growth of about 4.8%.

The association’s managing director Kari Kulmala believes that 2010 will be a much better year for the sector than 2009. His view is supported by Juha Nuutila, the director of the S-Group’s Kodin Terra chain, who says that sales have developed well in the stores that have been operating for more than a year and that the economic situation is turning for the better. According to Juha-Pekka Pöntinen, managing director of Starkki, a chain of building supplies stores, it’s possible to say that the recession in the hardware trade is over, although the value of the euro and the financial crisis in Greece’s are creating some uncertainty in the sector.

Car sales in Finland have also started growing rapidly during the Spring. Almost 50% more new cars were registered in May 2010 than in May 2009, according to the Finnish Information Centre of Automobile Sector. The estimate for 2010 is that a total of 108,000 new cars will be registered in Finland.

Source: Helsingin Sanomat

 

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