Construction supplies manufacturer Holcim Romania, the domestic branch of the Swiss group, will invest 150 million Swiss francs (100 million euros) between 2005-2008 in order to upgrade and expand its production facilities, company officials say.
It will build the largest cement drying line in Romania in Campulung Muscel with a capacity of 1.5 million tonnes a year.
This year has seen Holcim invest 28 million euros in upgrading its cement plants and 4 million euros on its concrete preparation facilities. The Swiss group has so far invested more than 300 million euros on the cement, concrete and aggregate markets in Romania, the latest data show.
Its most extensive investment - put at tens of millions of euros - was the large-scale reconstruction of the factory in Alesd acquired from French firm Lafarge in 2000.
Holcim''s main competitors on the international market and in Romania are French group Lafarge and German group HeidelbergCement. Holcim entered the local market in 1997 and now owns three cement plants in Turda, Alesd (Bihor County) and Campulung through acquisitions made starting in 2000.
Representatives of the Swiss group estimate the domestic cement market will grow by 5% this year. The demand for cement has risen constantly over the last few years, although it stagnated in the first half of 2005, even falling slightly, the Association of Employers in the Cement Industry says.
The floods that hit Romania this summer have given new impetus to orders on the cement market, which is a business worth up to 300 million euros. Representatives of the Employers'' Association in September said cement consumption would go up by some 30% in the second half, measured against the corresponding period in 2004.
Besides the three factories, Holcim owns 12 concrete mixing stations and 4 aggregate facilities. Holcim Romania has around 1,300 employees. Turnover on the Romanian market amounted to about 130 million euros in 2004.
The company management said this May that they were expecting turnover to increase by 8-10% this year.
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