Romanian workers (including strawberry pickers) in Spain or Italy who returned to Romania in the first half of the year brought about a 20 per cent growth in cement sales of Carpatcement Holding, the local subsidiary of the German group HeidelbergCement, say company representatives.

The growth seen halfway through the year is double against the original estimate, of some 10 per cent for this year. Thus, the German group’s business for this year could exceed Euro 220m on the three markets where it operates: cement, aggregates and concrete market. "The first six months witnessed a major inflow of money from workers employed abroad, who came home for Easter and started to build homes for themselves," Mihai Rohan, general manager of Carpatcement told local reporters.