Baumit, which has been operating on the Romanian market since 1995, last year reached turnover of nearly EUR30 million in the construction material business. It holds two other production facilities in Romania in Teius (Alba county) and Bolintin (Giurgiu county), the latter being inaugurated in the first part of last year.
“It took a bit of courage to inaugurate the plant in Bolintin [in 2010]. We continue to have a plan that took shape a while ago, to have a new production facility on the mortar segment. For now it is still in the planning stage, the construction of the new plant has yet to begin,” says Laurentiu Lupusor, general manager of Baumit Romania.
The third dry mortars plant is set to have a production capacity of around 300,000 tons, similar to the other two, and the investment could amount to around EUR15 million, according to the estimates of the Baumit head. He adds, though, that it is impossible to say exactly how much such a production facility would cost because each plant is unique.
The new production facility could emerge as Baumit expects a rebound of investments on the construction market.
“We are counting on a rebound of investments on the construction market. There are cycles that repeat themselves, a period of crisis followed by a period of trials and of searching.
People need constructions, not only in Romania, but everywhere. There is a need for residential buildings, commercial buildings and there is huge demand for infrastructure work,” explains the head of Baumit Romania.
Baumit’s two plants in Teius and Bolintin have a cumulated production capacity of over 600,000 tons per year, but the company also has a plant that makes paint and plaster in Bucharest, with a production of over 12,000 tons per year.
“2011 was a year with a lot of fluctuations; it did not have a linear progress. The year got off to a very slow start, because of the economic and fiscal gridlock, to which the bad weather added. In our field, there was a decline of around 15% in the volume of deliveries in the first half of the year,” Lupusor says.
But things changed in the second half of the year, given that new projects started in the construction sector and amid improved weather, so Baumit hopes it will end the year with an up to 5% turnover increase.
Last year the company posted turnover of 122.1 million lei (EUR28 million), according to the Trade Registry, so Baumit could end 2011 with a turnover of EUR30.5 million, according to ZF estimates. (EUR1=RON4.3505)
(English version by Daniela Stoican)