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Romarm: Demand is 3-4 times higher than we can produce
The National Company Romarm SA, the main manufacturer and direct exporter of military products in Romania is trying to cope with an avalanche of orders, in particular ammunition and infantry weapons, mostly from the Middle East, the Financial Newspaper writes.
At present we cannot produce as much as we asked. We should manufacture 3-4 times more in order to cope with the requests we get, says Floarea Serban, general manager of the company and the first female general in Romania.
Romarm had businesses of 104.3 million lei (23.5 million euros) in 2014, two times higher than 49.1 million lei in 2013, according to data published by the Ministry of Public Finance. Although the net profit of the state company grew from 0.03 million lei in 2013 still remained insignificant - only 0.3 million lei. Romarm has 15 branches and needs investments to restart come factories and modernize equipment. It is the case of the Fagaras factory where the company intends to obtain 0.4 million euros from the state budget to build a waste water treatment facility to obtain the environment licence lost two years ago.
The investment will continue until 2017 when the factory could function at its right value, Serban said.
According to the minister of economy Mihai Tudose, the reopening of the Fagaras factory will take place in a few months. The Ministry of Economy, the owner of Romarm, has plans to transform the Moreni factory, the only unit in Romania which produces armoured trucks in a regional centre for military vehicle maintenance, for which they intend to attract foreign partners.
It is premature to say with whom we will sign an accord, Floarea Serban pointed out.
At present, Romarm no longer manufactures tanks or other armoured vehicles, but it could start production in a year and half if they had firm orders.