Lafarge Arcom Gips, the local plasterboard division of the French group Lafarge, forecasts turnover worth 25 million euros this year, up 20% against 2007.
The estimate is prompted by a surge in demand for plasterboard systems. Additionally, the company will start exporting to countries in South-Eastern Europe this year, if demand from the domestic market is not too large.
"In the second half of the year, our Bucharest plant will reach its maximum capacity, which will enable us to export to countries such as the Republic of Moldova, Bulgaria and Greece, if demand on the local market allows it," Sebastian Popescu, general manager of Lafarge Arcom Gips, told ZF. The company saw a 25% turnover increase last year, to around 21 million euros.
Last year's turnover increase was due to improved sales across the company's entire range of products, particularly plasterboard panels and other plaster-based products. Lafarge Arcom Gips produces and sells plasterboard panels, metal profiles, plaster products and mortar products, according to company officials.
Last year, Lafarge Arcom Gips completed an investment worth 17 million euros in a new production line for its Bucharest-based plasterboard factory. Part of the sum was allocated to begin excavations at a quarry in Prahova county, as well as modernise calcinating equipment used in the manufacturing process of plasterboard.
The plasterboard market increased by 20% last year, to around 90-100 million euros, following investments on the residential and the office space market. "The value of the plasterboard market (including accessories, metal profiles, glass wool, mineral wool) amounted to around 300 million euros, with the plasterboard market accounting for around 30%. As for the overall volume, we estimate around 50 million square metres - from both domestic production and imports," adds Popescu.
