“Ciment” JSC forecasts cement demand increase on Moldova’s market

“Ciment” JSC leadership forecasts a 10 % growth of the cement demand on Moldova’s market for 2007. According to the Company’s director general, Hubert Pillet, the cement market will continue to grow, and the company expects to become an indisputable leader on the market, given the competition with the Ribnita Cement Factory and the imports from Ukraine. However, experts in construction consider that “Ciment” will not be able to satisfy the necessities of the construction sphere in Moldova once the national project of social homes will get started and the company would only provide 1150 thousand tonnes a year. The annual consumption of cement in Moldova could reach 1650 thousand tonnes in 2010. If the government will start to build social dwellings, it will be necessary to put into commission about 900 sq m of homes yearly. According to the government’s intentions, there are 50 thousand apartments (3-3.5 mln sq m) to be built in a period of 3 to 4 years. The country’s demand of cement constituted in 2006 roughly 900,000 tonnes. 756,000 tonnes were provided by JSC "Ciment" to the domestic market (and 59 thousand were exported). As for the Ukrainian companies, they supplied nearly 150 thousand tonnes (registering a twofold decrease compared with 2005) and additional 8-9 thousand tonnes were supplied by Romania. In 1999, "Lafarge" Group purchased a 52% stake of JSC "Ciment" pledging to invest nearly USD 12 mln. At this moment "Lafarge", owns 94%, with 4% belonging to the government, and the remainder to small shareholders. “Ciment” JSC finished 2006 with a production of 821,000 tonnes (by 30% more than in 2005), covering ¾ of the cement demand in Moldova. The company also finished the year with a turnover of MDL 620 mln (+74%) and an EBITDA of MDL 163 mln (+87%).