Markus Wirth, CEO of Holcim Romania, a 372 million-euro businessin 2008, says he expects a slow recovery of the economy due to thelow volume of investments made from the state budget, and that theconstructions market will have a W-shaped recovery.
Under the circumstances, the company budgeted a similar volumefor next year as in 2009, which will amount to around 300 millioneuros, down 20%, according to beginning-of-the-year forecasts.
"At the beginning of the crisis period we thought we would see aU-shaped market progression, then an L-shaped progression becamemuch more realistic, with the duration of the crisis beingunforeseeable. Now, we have signals from the market pointing to aW-shaped progression," Wirth says.
Holcim's cement sales fell by 15% in the first six months of theyear on the Romanian market, according to the group's half-yearreport, considering the around 30% decline of the overall cementmarket.
The company, which produces cement, aggregates and concrete,posted a 372 million-euro turnover last year, up 25% against theprevious year, and a 111.14 million-RON (30.2 million-euro) netprofit, down by around 3% against 2007.
Cement producers relied at the beginning of the year on the 10billion-euro investments announced by the Boc government forinfrastructure projects, but considering that investments madeuntil September amounted to just 5 billion euros, sales toinfrastructure projects were cut. "If the state had invested thewhole 10 billion euros, I think we would not have seen financiallosses this year, only a decline in terms of volume. During thistime of crisis when there was a reduction in private sectorinvestments in Romania, one should take this opportunity to developthe infrastructure we urgently need. We need a moderninfrastructure system both now, to develop industrial productionsector, and after the recession, to promote Romania as a traveldestination, " Wirth says.
Romanian cement production fell by 28.8% in the first half ofthe year, to 3.5 million tonnes, delivered exclusively to theRomanian market.
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