Romanian business news September 2011

China Nuclear Power Engineering interested to invest in ’s Cernavoda 3 and 4 reactors Chinese company China Nuclear Power Engineering has shown interest to invest in Romania’s 3 and 4 Cernavoda nuclear reactors and will sign a confidentiality agreement in October, allowing the Chinese company to continue negotiations for this project, according to Romania’s Economy Minister Ion Ariton. Works on this project should start in 2013 and be ended in August 2019, two years after the previously announced deadline.

Aluminum producer Alro Slatina reports USD 59.5 mln net profit in first half Aluminum Producer Alro Slatina reported a net profit of USD 59.5 million (RON 177.4 million) in the first half of 2011, according to the company. The turnover for the first six months reached USD 381 million (RON 1.14 billion). Alro is one of the largest aluminum production facilities in Central and Eastern .

Romanian President: I support the fiscal strategy; if we borrow money for salaries and pensions, we’ll go bankrupt Romanian President Traian Basescu said Friday, during a visit in Mangalia, that he supports the fiscal strategy adopted by the Government, stating that if Romania will remain a country that pays salaries and pensions of loans, then “we’ll go bankrupt”! “For pensions we borrow EUR 3.5 billion this year, and for salaries the difference to EUR 4.8 billion. We can not remain in the position of a country that pays public institutions employees from loans, because we’ll go bankrupt”, said the President, quoted by Mediafax. “I support the Government’s fiscal strategy because I realize we don’t have another choice”, he added. According to the fiscal strategy released by the Romanian Government, the increase of certain pensions will be blocked until 2014, pensions scheduled by the law to be applied next year, according to Mediafax. Also, Romania’s public sector employees will receive no vacation, gifts or meal vouchers until 2014, no bonuses until 2013 and will be rewarded for overtime only with free hours.

Romania starts works on gas pipe connection to Bulgaria Romanian state-owned natural gas transporter Transgaz has started works on the gas pipeline which will connect Romania to Bulgaria, according to Romanian media. The Giurgiu – Ruse gas pipe connection would be the second one, after the Arad-Szeged gas pipe, which connects Romania to neighbor . The pipe should be ready by the end of next year and the cost of works is covered with EU funding.

Consumer goods market up in Romania on smartphones, kitchen equipment, espresso makers sales The long-term consumer goods market in Romania grew by 12.4 percent in the second quarter of this year, compared to the same period of last year, the quarter-on-quarter growth was of 11.6 percent. This market reached EUR 613 million in the first half of the year, with EUR 360 million of them in the second quarter. The biggest increase was recorded by IT products – 27.5 percent, followed by household items, up 17.8 percent and photo equipment, up 17.7 percent.

Egypt’s GASC buys USD 16.6 mln of wheat from Romania Egypt, the world’s largest wheat importer, has bought 60,000 tonnes of Romanian wheat from Ameropa company at USD 278 per tonne, according to Egypt’s state-owned wheat buyer, the General Authority for Supply Commodities (GASC). The total acquisition amounts to USD 16.6 million, and the wheat deliveries will take place from early October.

Water and wastewater systems in three Romanian counties to be upgraded with EUR 333 mln The Romanian Minister of Environment and Forests, Laszlo Borbely has recently signed three contracts totaling EUR 333.6 million for projects aimed to expand and upgrade water and wastewater systems in the counties of Bacau, Botosani, Galati, according to the Ministry. Of the total amount, EUR 285.7 million comes from the ’s Cohesion Fund.

Romania wants more money to the budget through gold, platinum, silver royalty increase Romania will increase the royalties for gold, platinum and silver from 4 percent to 6 percent of the value of production, according to a draft from the Ministry of Public Finances, which modifies the Fiscal Code. The state hopes to get EUR 27 million to the budget this year through the new increase and aims for EUR 260 million for the next four years. Romania’s biggest gold field is in Rosia Montana, in Alba county, and has been licensed to Rosia Montana Gold Corporation. The field there has been evaluated at some 300 tonnes of gold and 1,600 tonnes of silver. The Rosia Montana gold mining project has recently made headlines in Romanian and international media, as the Romanian president Traian Basescu has publicly said the project, which has been criticized for doing harm to the environment, should be started.

First DoubleTree by Hilton in Romania opens in Bucharest’s Unirii Square DoubleTree by Hilton has recently opened an 88-roomed hotel in Unirii area of Bucharest, close to the Old Town, the hotel chain has announced. The hotel runs under the name DoubleTree by Hilton Bucuresti – Piata Unirii and it is the first DoubleTree unit in Romania. The hotel runs under a franchise agreement between VIS 7 Import Export SRL and a Hilton Worldwide subsidiary and has been opened after a conversion project of an existing space and is managed by Saleem Sarieddine.

Triglav Carpati business club /Majda Grgi č/