Paving the way

Since 1989 Germany has been one of the biggest investors in Poland. Now the number of investments flowing in the opposite direction is growing dramatically. Germany, with its population of 80 million, strong purchasing power, proximity to Poland and access to other large EU markets, is attracting more and more Polish companies, many of which are growing too big for the limited Polish market.

"The Poland-Germany highway that looked like a one-way road is changing and we'll soon have a well-established two-way street," says Lars Bosse, general director of the Polish-German Chamber of Industry and Commerce.

However, the German market is one of the most difficult for Polish companies to break into.

"The German customer is strongly attached to German products. It is very hard then to enter the German market with a foreign brand," says Krzysztof Domarecki, president of Selena, which bought a German brand Dr. Schenk. Other Polish companies complain of bureaucratic obstacles, such as sluggishness in issuing the appropriate documents.

To help Polish companies avoid these obstacles, the Polish-German Chamber of Industry and Commerce has initiated a plan to aid Polish companies who would like to take their business to the other bank of the Oder River. The chamber will now provide Polish entrepreneurs with specific information regarding the organization and functioning of Germany's distribution channels, actively search for cooperation partners, investigate price competitiveness, as well as aid negotiations with German firms.

The Polish Embassy in Germany estimates there are around 20,000 Polish companies operating in Germany, and the value of their investment amounts to EUR 500 million (zł.1.95 billion). Currently in Berlin there are 4,500 Polish firms, compared to 1,300 in 2004. The biggest investors are PKN Orlen with EUR 140 million (zł.545 million) and Boryszew with EUR 5.5 million (zł.21.5 million).