Displaying items by tag: Consumption
Water recirculation initiative reuses 88 - 100% of cooling water in cement grinding in Panama in 2020
21 September 2021Panama: Panamanian cement producers reused cooling water used in cement grinding at a rate of 88 – 100% nationally in 2020. The development is part of a concerted water conservation effort first launched by Argos Panamá. The La Estrella newspaper has reported that Cementos Panamá’s Quebrancha grinding plant reduced its water consumption by 88% in five years, to 59,600m3 from 477,000m3 in 2015. The plant’s cement now has a water consumption of 100l/t, compared to 537l/t in 2015.
Kenya: Cement producers recorded a 28% year-on-year increase in production in the first five months of 2021 to 3.35Mt from 2.65Mt in the first five months of 2020. The Business Daily newspaper has reported that the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics recorded a 27% increase in cement consumption to 3.35Mt from 2.64Mt. The increases follow a rise in infrastructure investment by the government, especially in the roads and dams segments. Increased credit requests by property developers also indicate a recovery in the private sector following the decline of the Covid-19 outbreak. Kenyan gross domestic product (GDP) growth is forecast at 6% in the 2021 full year.
Spain: Cement consumption grew by 17% year-on-year to 7.31Mt of cement in the first half of 2021 from 6.23Mt in the same period in 2020. Oficemen, the Spanish cement association, said that the figure for 2021 remained 1.4% below the same period in 2019 though. However, the consumption in June 2021 was looking promising compared to both the same month in 2020 and 2019. Exports increased by 36% to 3.8Mt in the reporting period. The association celebrated this figure but warned that high electricity and CO2 taxes could potentially have a negative effect on future exports by the sector.
India: Ratings agency ICRA has forecast a 25% year-on-year decline in cement sales during the first quarter of the 2022 financial year to 30 June 2021. Domestic cement demand fell by 4% year-on-year and by 35% month-on-month in April 2021, according to the Press Trust of India. The agency said that this was due to the spread of the Covid-19 outbreak to rural areas and the imposition of numerous regional lockdowns. Pent-up demand is expected to drive a gradual recovery in the second quarter from July 2021. Costs for cement companies increased by 5% nationally year-on-year in April 2021. Increased fuel, power and transport costs all contributed to the rise.
Spain: Cement consumption grew by 120% year-on-year to 1.24Mt of cement in April 2021 from 0.57Mt in April 2020. Oficemen, the Spanish cement association, says that the rise continues a pre-coronavirus positive trend, representing an increase of 3% from April 2019 levels. It added that the demand was the highest of any April since 2011. The association nonetheless urged caution in light of a 4% drop in four-month cement demand levels compared with the first four months of 2019, and a more moderate 25% increase year-on-year from 2020 levels.
In April 2021, Spanish producers exported 812,000t of cement, up by 230% from 248,000t in April 2020.
Sika expands capacity at Doha concrete admixture plant
19 April 2021Qatar: Switzerland-based Sika has expanded concrete admixture production capacity at it Doha admixture plant. The company has also announced the start of epoxy resin production in the country. It says that its present investments target growth to serve the expanding regional construction market. Numerous major projects and the expansion of energy and utilities infrastructure have driven a growing demand. Qatar’s state sourcing policy further increases consumption of building materials produced in the country.
Europe, Middle East and Africa regional manager Ivo Schädler said "Our latest investment in Qatar positions us for continued growth and strengthens our competitiveness in the country. In expanding our production, we are anticipating a substantial increase in demand and volumes for our high-value adhesives and flooring solutions. Our building sector customers will benefit from an expanded and locally produced portfolio of Sika solutions which, in addition, eliminates long-distance transportation."
Spanish first-quarter cement consumption grows in 2021
16 April 2021Spain: Domestic cement consumption was 3.38Mt in the first quarter of 2021, up by 8% year-on-year from 3.12Mt in 2020. The Spanish Cement Industry Association (Oficemen) partly attributed the increase to export growth, to 665,000t in March 2021, up by 18% from March 2020 levels.
President Víctor Brosa said, ‘A stable year is expected in 2021 compared to 2020 despite the uncertainty surrounding the arrival of funds to reactivate the economy and the evolution of the pandemic."
US: The Portland Cement Association (PCA) has published a March 2021 Economic Update. The update calls attention to the danger that insufficient aid to state and local governments presents to construction. The American Rescue Plan Act 2021 affords US$350bn to these bodies, which consume roughly half of the cement produced in the US.
Senior regional economist Brian Schmidt said that state and local government coffers are running low due to reduced tax revenues because of the Covid-19 outbreak, especially in areas reliant on oil and tourism. Schmidt concluded that the total US$1.9tn stimulus package is likely sufficiently replenish state funds to maintain cement demand. He added that this will depend on significantly reduced Covid-19 case counts by the third quarter of 2021 in line with the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation’s baseline forecast.
Spanish cement consumption falls by 10% to 13.3Mt in 2020
28 January 2021Spain: Oficemen, the Spanish cement association, reports that domestic cement consumption fell by 10% year-on-year to 13.3Mt in 2020 from 14.7Mt in 2019. Consumption at this level was last reported in 1967. The 12-month accumulated consumption figure began to fall in April 2020 due to Covid-19 restrictions and the association does not expect growth in 2021 despite an improvement in December 2020. Cement and clinker exports fell by 3.4% to 5.99Mt from 6.20Mt. It has forecast anything between a 3% rise and a 3% fall in consumption in 2021, due to coronavirus-related uncertainty.
The figures suggest that capacity utilisation in the cement industry is at roughly 60% nationally, according to the El Economista newspaper. Oficemen president Víctor García Brosa said that this level ‘cannot be indefinitely maintained.’ The association called for a recovery plan committed to infrastructure development, residential construction and rehabilitation and energy efficient transport.
Federbeton calls for unified Italian infrastructure investment plan
25 December 2020Italy: Federbeton, the Italian cement and concrete association, has called for a coordinated infrastructure investment plan to restart the national economy once the coronavirus crisis recedes. It has noted a halt to production not seen since the 1940s during the current crisis and a general reduction in cement consumption to 17Mt/yr from 47Mt/yr over the last decade, according to the Agenzia Nazionale Stampa Associata (ANSA). It is calling on a strategic plan for the sector to make any post-pandemic economic recovery as efficient as possible.