The Portuguese participation in the event 'Automotive Expo & B2B Meetings', which took place on March 30, in Sibiu, Romania, was attended by the companies CR MOULDS, FOZMOLDES, PMM, PRIFER and SOMEMA, in a collective participation within the scope of CEFAMOL's international promotion project 'Engineering & Tooling from Portugal'.

Dedicated mainly to the automotive sector, this fair concentrated several suppliers of that industry, mainly second and third line. The visitors were OEMs and first-line suppliers.

Some of the national companies found great potential in the market, to such an extent that they even expressed their intention to invest more in that country, organizing new visits and establishing new contacts, individually. It was an event that, despite its small dimension, has shown to have a strong business potential.

Romania is an interesting market for Portuguese molds and has been expanding in recent years. Due to its location, the country is one of the markets of relocation of the industry, not only automotive, but transversally. Romania does not yet assume, at this level, the potential of Poland or Czech Republic - emerging markets and that concentrate a huge industrial capacity -, but it has been attracting a growing number of large companies that are beginning to settle there.

Moreover, Romania was the fastest growing economy in the region, in the last three years, as a market for national molds. In 2021, for example, it integrated the top 10 of the main markets for Portuguese moulds, occupying the 9th position, with a business volume of 17 million Euros.