Roman Ceram boosts production

Roman Ceram, a manufacturer of sanitary ware and ceramic tiles for stoves has boosted production by 60% following a 6 million euro investment in a sanitary ware manufacturing line. “We decided to make this investment because of the increase in imports and in order to meet the demand on this market. Whereas we were making 500 tonnes of sanitary ware per month last year, we are now making 800 tonnes per month,” says Narcis Mititelu, an official in charge of marketing and trade for Roman Ceram. Roman Ceram made 8.5 million euro turnover (29.5 million RON) last year, an increase of 14% on the previous year. Its competitors on the sanitary ware market are Mondial Lugoj, held by German Villeroy & Boch Group, Delta Distribution and a number of importers. The data supplied by the company show Roman Ceram to have reached an output of 6,000 tonnes of sanitary ware and approximately 39,000 terracotta stoves in 2004. Over 70% of the sanitary ware output is exported to France, Italy, Czech Republic, Hungary and the Middle East. Roman Ceram was established in 1955 as a manufacturer of construction supplies: reinforced concrete tubes, bricks, ceramic ties etc. It started to make sanitary ware in 1982. It is currently employing some 1,000 people. ZF