TOP: The construction market needs 10 billion EUR in 2014

The local construction market will reach between 8.5 billion and 9 billion EUR this year, continuing the downward trend recorded in the last five years, according to the Romanian Association of Construction Entrepreneurs (ARACO) and the Construction Products Association in Romania (APMCR). Thus, after the collapse of production in the construction industry from 15.3 billion EUR in 2008 to 9.7 billion EUR in 2010, in the period 2011-2012 a stabilization followed to around 9.33 billion EUR. However, during the first half of 2013 only 3.73 billion EUR were recorded, marking a pretty serious situation for the current year. According to the estimates of the associations active in the area, in order for the construction activities to be carried back to an optimal level, it is necessary to provide the resources needed to overcome the threshold of 10 billion EUR in 2014. Although the average salary in this economic sector increased successively (from 1,506 RON in 2008 to 1,721 RON in 2012 and 1,749 RON in 2013), the average number of employees recorded a decline (from 414,000 people in 2008 to 342,000 people in 2012 and 348,000 people in January-June 2013). Obviously, the experts of the association warn that, under these conditions, there will be a successive reduction in the construction productivity (expressed in EUR/ month/ employee), which stood at about 3,079 EUR in 2008, 2,268 EUR in 2012 and only 1,786 EUR in the first half of 2013. Instead, according to the National Statistics Institute (INS ), the actual value of the construction market (defined as the level extracted of GDP and denominated in EUR at the average exchange rate of each year) was different and, from 14.36 billion EUR in 2008, it has reached 11.32 billion EUR last year, after the 2011 level indicated the installment of a support threshold (of almost 13.4 billion EUR), which, if it were to be maintained, could mark the completion of recession for this sector.