Cement sales in Romania by French Lafarge group rose 28.9 percent last year, double those of the group’s 14 percent growth rate, and above the 20 percent estimate made at the beginning of 2008, thus raising the local Lafarge Cement division’s net sales to €418 million. The business of the construction material producer took advantage of higher prices and a dynamic domestic market, although Lafarge registered a slowdown in the second half of 2008, especially in the final quarter, according to the group’s annual report. Romanian results also exceeded the growth average of cement sales registered in Central and Eastern Europe by one fifth, despite difficult economic conditions in the final months of 2008. Lafarge’s operating profit on the regional cement market also increased, by 26.1 percent, to €590 mln, in spite of a 6.1 percent drop in the fourth quarter, to €108 mln. The group’s estimates for 2009 target a 2-7 percent rise in cement sales in Romania. In Central and Eastern Europe, the group’s cement sales totaled €1.37 billion, but declined four percent in the final three months, to €269 mln. Lafarge’s total construction material sales in the region in 2008 soared 20 percent, to €1.76 bln, while the company’s operating profit surged 23 percent, to €649 mln. At the global level, total sales by the Lafarge group rose eight percent in 2008, to €19.03 bln, as the effects of the decline on developed markets in Western Europe and North America were absorbed by sharp increases registered by the emerging countries in Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Lafarge’s competitors on the local market are HeidelbergCement (Germany) and Holcim (Switzerland). The French group, which entered the Romanian market in 1997, owns three production units, in Constanta, Brasov, and Gorj counties. (G.S.)