ANALYSIS: Demand for finishing materials will still be due to renovations

The renovation projects, the thermal rehabilitation ones and some major private investments (shopping centres and office buildings) represented the main sources that supported the production and importation of materials for finishing in 2013, in the context in which the construction market declined continuously during the last five years. According to the latest data published by the National Statistics Institute (INS), during the first 11 months of last year, the volume of maintenance and current repairs works calculated as adjusted series by number of working days increased by 32.1%, respectively 12.4% compared to the same period in 2012. Furthermore, the situation reported for the month of December 2013, whatever it may be, cannot significantly change these partial reports. In this context, the local market of dry adhesives and mortars maintained last year at the level of 200 million EUR recorded previously, whilst the industrial flooring segment did not exceed, according to specialized operators, 70 million EUR, while the segment of ceramic plates has totalled no more than 115 million EUR. For 2014, the managers of the main companies which supplying adhesives, tiles, flooring and sanitary systems indicate possible slight increases in demand, given the election periods that will be organized and which usually create a favourable economic development and increase the living standard of the population. Moreover, the Government's initiative to modify the "Prima Casă" in the "Noua Casă", which aims to provide loans only for new housing, is favourable towards new investment projects, along with the need to intensify the thermal rehabilitation program and investments that need to be reached due to the entry into force of the new EU directive on energy efficiency, will be the main development factors of the Romanian market of finishing materials. After several years in which the local producers of adhesives and dry mortars have relied on the growth of supplies for thermal rehabilitation projects, the providers regard them as real opportunities, but do not rely solely on them.