Lafarge to invest 20 million dollars in 2001

Lafarge Romcim will run 20 million dollars in investments this year, in order to maintain the industrial and development upgrading, after having registered 2,000 billion lei (more than 90 million dollars) in turnover and 328 billion-lei net profit last year.

According to Lafarge president Frederic Fleuret, the Romanian cement market amounted to 4.5 million tonnes last year, up 10% against the previous year. Lafarge output aimed at the domestic market was 1.4 million tonnes, standing for more than 31% in market share.

Lafarge exported 1.4 million tonnes cement priced at 25 dollars per tonne and delivered 1.4 million tonnes of cement for 40 dollars per tonne on the domestic market. The degree of using the production capacities amounted to 60%.

Lafarge investments worth 100 million dollars were aimed at Romcim plants based in Medgidia, Targu Jiu, Hoghiz and gypsum plant Arghires, for the production capacities upgrading and restructuring. A share of 80 million dollars stood for industrial investments, while the other 20 million dollars aimed at developing new capacities.

One of Lafarge’s goals at Romcim is to increase the Romanian employees’ productivity up to the level of their Western counterparts. Lafarge has launched a restructuring programme, joined by training programmes for the remaining employees. Their number decreased from 8,000, when Lafarge took over Romcim, to 2,100 now.

Romcim was established at the beginning of the ’90s, when six Romanian plants manufacturing construction materials associated, creating the largest Romanian cement maker.

In November 1997, Lafarge group, a world leader in the field of construction materials, took over the main stock (51%) in Romcim, paying 200 million dollars. Lafarge acquired an additional 41% stake one year later, when it launched a buying public offer worth 50 million dollars on Rasdaq.