Laurentiu Lupusor, general manager of Baumit Romania, which is part of Austria's Schmid Industrie Holding, with over one billion euros in turnover, says the state has not supported the operations of real estate developers, which used to be the industry's "vitamin C", with 40% of Romania's population being hurt as a result. "According to our estimates, 40% of the population is involved in the construction industry. Designers, distributors, builders, manufacturers and their families have all either stood to gain or to lose from this sector's progression over the last few years," said Lupusor, who runs the local operations of Austria's Baumit, a producer of dry mortars and adhesives. The company posted a 158 million-RON (43.1 million-euro) turnover last year, up 30% against the previous year, the company's highest growth rate since its entry on the Romanian market in 1995. "In 2008 we recorded unexpected growth. We had been seeing a steady increase since 2000, by 15% a year, and last year there was a peak, generated by a boom. We will not hit this peak in terms of value before 2013-2014," Lupusor says. The company's domestic sales rise amounted to 40% last year, but exports fell by 10-15%, after Baumit completed a plant in Bulgaria, one of its main export markets. Baumit Romania budgeted a 20% turnover decline for this year, to around 34.5 million euros, but, even so, it started construction of a dry mortars production facility in Bolintin Deal, near the Bucharest-Pitesti motorway, which will attract around 20 million euros in overall investments.

Laurentiu Lupusor, general manager of Baumit Romania, which is part of Austria's Schmid Industrie Holding, with over one billion euros in turnover, says the state has not supported the operations of real estate developers, which used to be the industry's "vitamin C", with 40% of Romania's population being hurt as a r