The production of construction materials grew by 9.2% in Romania in the first 11 months of the last year compared to the same period in 2012, according to the latest data published by the National Statistics Institute (INS) and confirmed by the local Association of Construction Products (APMCR). Given that the situation from December 2013 does not significantly affect this annual indicator, we can see outlined the first period of increase in sales for the local producers since the start of the crisis. Furthermore, if we take into consideration that the Romanian construction market shrank last year by 1.6% as adjusted series, the strong performance of exports is once again confirmed, while the domestic market is not attractive for suppliers. In November 2013, the production of materials increased by 19.3% over the same period in 2012 and decreased by 4.4% compared to October 2013. The local market of construction materials has an annual value of about 3.5 billion EUR. The production prices were maintained in 2013, on average, at the level recorded in the previous year, with small fluctuations (maximum ± 2%), but there were types of materials, especially in the category of coarse ones, whose production prices increased significantly during this period, such as abrasive products (+13.6%) and mortar (+3.14%). At the end of November 2013, 347,000 employees were working in the construction industry, while in the sector of material production were recorded over 35,200 people. In what concerns the work in 2014, the managers working in the domain project a growth, based on both domestic consumption and export.***
The German group Praktiker sold its Romanian operations to the business man Ömer Süsli, the former president of the Association of Turkish Businessmen from Romania (TIAD), who is engaged in businesses with a value of about 120 million EUR locally through the companies Romtextil, Search Chemicals, Astek, Prefab Construct, Tempo Invest and Travel Tips. According to the available data, the new owner of the 27 stores will be entitled to use the Praktiker brand. The German DIY network, with an annual turnover of 143 million EUR in Romania, became insolvent after negotiations on the debt restructuring failed in July 2013.
