Lafarge's Romanian operations up

French construction supplies group Lafarge has seen “strong growth” in Romania and other markets, albeit its global turnover in H1 went down 11% from last year. “The good conditions on the market nurtured a strong increase in Romania, Morocco, Jordan and Africa,” Lafarge representatives say, as shown in a corporate press release. Still, Lafarge’s turnover went down 11.9% in H1, to 6.3bn euros, particularly because of the significant exchange rate fluctuations that made a 10.9% negative impact on sales. All three cement producers on the Romanian market, Lafarge Romcim (Lafarge’s local cement branch), Holcim Romania and Carpatcement, had a very slow first quarter, with sales falling 30-40% from the same time last year due to the prolonged winter. The battle to recover the lost ground was fought in Q2. Z