“We estimate the production capacity in the masonry industry is used 60% to 70%.”
The decline in the usage is because of the constant decline of the number of new homes. In 2012, 42,566 new homes were completed, 34% fewer than in 2008, according to the National Statistics Institute.
“Romania has a very large stock of homes, about 8.5 million housing units, which is deteriorating,” Fecioru says.
Wienerberger Sisteme de Caramizi, the local subsidiary of the Austrian brick manufacturer, posted EUR27.9 million revenue in 2011, according to Finance Ministry data and Fecioru estimated sales were flat in both value and volume in 2012.
He did not provide any estimates for 2013.
Wienerberger entered Romania in 1998 and has invested more than EUR75 million in three new brick plants in Gura Ocnitei (Dambovita County), Sibiu and Tritenii de Jos (Cluj County). It announced early this year it planned to build a new brick plant in Iasi County (NE Romania), which will require a EUR22 million investment.
“We are now going through some very bureaucratic and time-consuming procedures. It is highly unlikely to begin the project in Iasi in 2013, it will happen in 2014 at the earliest,” Fecioru said.
Wienerberger’s rivals in Romania are Ceramica Iasi, Cemacon, Siceram and Soceram.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)