“Last year, the local cement market saw slight growth of 5%, helped by repair, rehabilitation and infrastructure works. After the first few months of this year I can say that if the market stays as it was last year, it will be OK. Still a 2% or 3% growth is possible if major projects are developed,” says Aldea, who replaced Mihai Rohan, one of the most experienced people in this industry, at the helm of Carpatcement Holding at the beginning of 2011.
The cement production got help from the high number of wind farms developed in Romania in 2011, Aldea says. Home building, however, did not show any significant signs of a rebound.
The local cement production amounted to about 6.9 million tons in 2010, which means it was close to 7.25 million tons in 2011, according to ZF’s calculations, based on the growth rate announced by Florian Aldea and the latest data available on the market.
The positive trend of the cement market comes after some years of decline, which also made an impact on the revenue of Carpatcement Holding, owned by Germany’s HeidelbergCement. The company’s revenue went down by about 35% from 2008 through 2010.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)