“The effects of the crisis have significantly forced down prices of land in Romania, but our offer remains unchanged. We will offer no more and no less than we offered to date, namely between €10-100 per square meter, depending on the location of the land. Our offer is non-negotiable, but the owners do not understand this very well. We have had owners telling us that they paid more for the land than we are offering. However, when one speculates on land, one must assume all risks,” added Schiefer.  According to the Voestalpine spokesman, the company has so far contracted for half of the land in Agigea.  As concerns the postponement of the decision regarding the location of the investment, Peter Schiefer indicated that this will be made when the market settles.

“If this happens at the end of 2009, we will announce the decision only at that time,” added Schiefer. “The financial crisis is directly affecting the auto and construction markets. Some 35 percent of our clients are active in these areas. For the time being, we are operating at maximum capacity, but are expecting a drop in 2009, the size of which we cannot yet estimate.  For 2008, we are forecasting operational profit of €1.6 billion, higher than in 2007. Next year, however, this will be lower,” added Schiefer.