Brick producers investing tens of million euros despite market decline to less than 100m euros

Romania's building materials producers are further announcing investment projects worth tens of million euros in production facility expansion, even though massive investments have been operated on the market in the past two years and sales dropped to less than half the peak reached in 2008.

Businessman Gheorghe Călburean, owning Cars Târnăveni building materials producer, plans to start investments of at least 19.6m euros in a new ceramic block plant with a 700 tonnes/day capacity.
Soceram Bucureşti in early 2010 announced it would invest 20m euros in a ACC plant in Roman. Ceramic block producer Cemacon Zalău has recently completed a 28m-euro investment in ceramic block production. The market leader, Wienerberger, also announced it would start the around 100m-euro budgeted investments as soon as the market picks up.
Producers account for the need of these investments by the falling production costs amid plummeting prices and tight competition in the field.
Building materials producers would not make projections about 2011 market trends after the steep sales decline of the past two years have taken them by surprise.