VEKA Romania, the domestic subsidiary of Germany's VEKA PVC profile producer, in May 2008 dropped a 20m-euro investment in a plant near Bucharest, despite the advanced stage of the project. The reason? Even though in Romania the market peaked at 1bn euros, the financial crisis the US and Europe were going through made the Germans put their investment on hold. The decision to freeze investments proved to be a wise one as in 2009 PVC profile demand dropped by 50% and this year may bring a new 10-20% decline. While the plant was no longer built, when the market reaches 70% of the 2008 level, in two or three years as estimated, and demand is steady, Romania will be the first country where VEKA group, with 700m-euro annual turnover, will expand. The value of VEKA investments in Romania amounts to some 10m euros. The company positioned itself on the medium and luxury client segment. "Around 70% of our sales are directed to private projects and just 30% to single-family homes," states Gabriel Nicolaescu, deputy general manager with VEKA Romania. The company in 2009 saw turnover go down by 42% to 26.3m RON (6.2m euros), but revenues dropped by 35% to around 13m euros.

VEKA Romania, the domestic subsidiary of Germany's VEKA PVC profile producer, in May 2008 dropped a 20m-euro investment in a plant near Bucharest, despite the advanced stage of the project. The reason? Even though in Romania the market peaked at 1bn euros, the financial crisis the US and Europe were going through made the Germans put their investment on hold. The decision to freeze investments proved to be a wise one as in 2009 PVC profile demand dropped by 50% and this year may bring a new 10-20% decline. While the plant was no longer built, when the market reaches 70% of the 2008 level, in two or three years as estimated, and demand is steady, Romania will be the first country where VEKA group, with