It is hard, lighter than aluminum, easy to machine and affordable. Magnesium could be a perfect building metal. Problem: today, in the European Union (EU), more than 90% of it is imported from China. However, the situation could change since, on Friday April 12, Romania granted the company Verde Magnesium authorization to open a mine near the city of Oradea, in the northwest of the country.
“This is a billion dollar investment [938 millions d’euros] which will allow us to open a metallic magnesium factory », says Alexandru Rosu, CEO of Verde Magnesium. The investment will be made thanks to the support of the American investment fund Amerocap. The mining company hopes to produce, at full capacity, nearly 90,000 tonnes of magnesium per year, the equivalent of 50% of European demand. From whom to free ourselves from China.
A few years ago, such an announcement would have made the front page of the local newspapers. Today, American investments in Romania have become commonplace. In 1997, this country of the former communist bloc located on the eastern border of the EU signed a strategic partnership with the United States to stimulate its economy. However, the transition to the market economy has been somewhat chaotic, delaying said investments. Until the war launched by Russia against Ukraine in February 2022 revives Washington’s interest in Romania.
Area of major interest
If Europeans are the main foreign investors in the country – notably the Netherlands, France and Germany – the United States has strengthened their presence over the past two years, with more than seven billion euros invested. The 960 member companies of the American Chamber of Commerce in Romania have a turnover of 65 billion euros and have created more than 110,000 jobs in the country. This growth is expected to continue.
On December 14, 2023, the US Congress passed a law declaring that the Black Sea region, of which Romania is a part, would be an area of major interest for Washington. On May 9-10, 2024, Trade Winds, the largest annual economic mission organized by the United States abroad, will be held in Bucharest with the aim of opening the doors of the Romanian market to its investors. Energy, military industry, IT and agriculture are the priority areas.
In Iasi alone, a city located in the northeast of the country, near the Moldovan border, a billion euros of American investment has been attracted in recent years, creating 12,000 jobs, of which 4,000 were generated by the development center that Amazon installed there in 2016. In Brasov (center), the government is preparing to start the construction of a powder factory for shells, for an investment of 400 million euros with capital American and European − the European Commission participating to the tune of 47 million euros.
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