Romanian building materials market will exceed €3.5 billion this year, following a slight upward trend, compared to €3.3 billion reported in 2011, according to the Romanian construction products association (APMCR - Asociaţia Producătorilor de Materiale pentru Construcţii din România). About €1.5 billion of the total will be the amount of products with high added value, while the difference of €2 billion is the share of the raw materials available on the specific market. The Romanian production of construction materials rose by 5.6% in the first eight months of this year compared to the corresponding period of 2011, according to the latest information based on partial data released by the National Statistics Institute (INS). The data available for August 2012 also show an increase of 3% compared to the same period last year and a decrease of 0.5% from the previous month. Moreover, the indices summing the turnover of the construction products sector in Romania increased by 1.5% during January-August 2012 compared to the first eight months of 2011. In late August, around 354,600 people were working in the construction field, of whom 36,400 were employed specialists in building materials domain. In terms of prices, the most significant increases recorded in August this year have been reported for the abrasive materials (+11.56%), insulation systems / ceramic insulating fittings (+11.81%), sanitary ware (+9.45%) and lime / gypsum (+9.40%). Price decreases were recorded on the cement / concrete market (-2.83%) and in ceramic tiles (-2.9%). The National Agency for Fiscal Administration (ANAF) has recently regulated the system of VAT payment on receipt of invoices. According to the new law, the chargeability of the tax is deferred until the partial or total collection of the money paid for the executed works or supplied materials has taken place, according to the law. The new system will be applied since January 2013 and, according to the ANAF notification, the measure will regard only the companies having a turnover of less than €500,000. The law was welcomed by suppliers of construction materials, who said that it should be extended to all companies, although they are well-aware that the government cannot ensure a guaranty fund able to cover the expenses incurred in collecting VAT. For further information and a detailed analysis of the current Agenda Constructiilor issue, click here!