Only recently, entrepreneurs have been queuing in front of cement plants. Now, when banks are not that eager to lend money, cement producers have problems with selling their products.
“This year, cement sales may grow by 2-4 percent”, Luc Callebat, Lafarge Poland CEO said.
Last year, sales jumped 15.4 percent to 16.6m tons. Cement producers hope that the government plans to build new roads will help them. Next year, the government plans to spend PLN 32bn (EUR 8.8bn). Till the year 2012, there are PLN 121bn provided for this purpose. The problem is that the government has not decided what the roads will be made of: concrete or asphalt. Asphalt is produced by PKN Orlen and Grupa Lotos, both companies controlled by the state.
“We have evidence that concrete roads are more durable and cheaper than asphalt ones, up to 50 percent cheaper. Germany, Austria or Belgium build even 60 percent of their roads out of concrete”, Luc Callebat stressed.
(PLN 1 = EUR 0.275)