“Our estimates show that sales on the Romanian market will not exceed 1,200 units, compared to almost 3,000 in 2008, due to a decline in construction projects. Large machinery, used in infrastructure projects, will make up most of the market this year, unlike small machinery, used in civilian construction, which sold very well in previous years,” said Constantin Marcu, Vice President of the Construction Machinery Distributors Association (ADUC) and President of Marcom, the largest local machinery distributor.
Marcu indicated that the new machinery market fell eightfold in this year’s first quarter compared to the first three months of 2008, to 103 units from 829.
The Marketing Manager of the Protruck company, Gabriela Grigori, said that the company’s sales will slide 35 percent in 2009, and the main problems of the enterprises in the field are related to stock management, cash-flow and increasingly tighter competition.
Marcu added that the construction machinery market could bounce back at the end of 2009 or the beginning of 2010, when the effect of investments in infrastructure and that of the foreign loan contracted from the International Monetary Fund will appear.
The main competitors on the local construction machinery market, valued at €250 million, are Marcom, Terra Romania, Liebherr, and Bergerat-Monnoyeur.
