Cement sales affected by bad winter

Cement manufacturers on the local market – Lafarge (France), Holcim (Switzerland) and HeidelbergCement (Germany), registered slower growth in the first quarter of the year instead of the record growth in the same time in 2007, and posted increases that ranged between 8% and 34% due to the unfavourable weather during the first two months of 2008. Lafarge’s cement sales in Romania increased 8% in the first quarter of the year, mainly due to an increase in the volumes sold, according to the company’s financial report. Carpatcement Holding, local subsidiary of German group HeidelbergCement, posted a 19% increase in the volume of sales compared with the same time last year. Holcim Romania saw a 37.3% increase in cement sales in the first three months of the year, compared with the same time in 2007. The volume of cement sales went up 34.3%, while prices increased by 3%.