Displaying items by tag: Consumption

US: The American Cement Association expects that data centres will need 1Mt of cement by 2028 as investment in artifical intelligence technology rises. 

Data centres are projected to consume 247,000t of cement in 2025 and 860,000t by 2027. There were 5426 operational AI data centres in the US at the end of March 2025, with the number reportedly expected to exceed 6000 by 2027. However, the association warned that there could be challenges in meeting this demand, such as regulatory hurdles and labour shortages.

Indonesia: Cement consumption fell by 5% year-on-year to 5.18Mt in May 2025, despite rising 32% month-on-month following Eid al-Fitr, according to Kontan.co.id news. The annual drop reflects ongoing purchasing power challenges, longer holidays and routine demand from the construction of the country’s new capital city at Nusantara.

Java remained the top sales region at 2.73Mt, down by 6% year-on-year. Sales outside Java also declined by 3% to 2.45Mt. Bagged cement consumption fell by 4% to 3.69Mt, while bulk cement demand dropped by 6% to 1.49Mt. Cumulative sales from January to May 2025 stood at 22.27Mt, down 2% year-on-year, compared to a 1% decline in the January–April period.

Equity research analyst Andreas Saragih at Mirae Aset Sekuritas said “Although there was a deeper contraction, we are of the view that the achievement is relatively in line with expectations, because it is equivalent to 35% of our 2025 cement sales estimate.”

South Korea: Domestic cement consumption fell by 22% year-on-year to 8.12Mt in the first quarter of 2025, the lowest figure for first-quarter sales in five years, according to Chosun Biz news. This marks a 32% (3.9Mt) drop from the 2023 peak of 12Mt. A domestic decline of more than 20% in the first quarter has not been seen since the 1998 financial crisis. At that time, first-quarter domestic sales decreased by 23% to 8.9Mt.

Cement companies have seen a corresponding decline in revenue. Hanil Cement’s operating profit dropped by 75% year-on-year to US$9m, Asia Cement’s fell by 70% year-on-year to US$2.4m and SAMPYO Cement’s declined by 90% to US$1.15m. Ssangyong C&E and Sungshin Cement both reported operating losses of US$19m and US$4.4m respectively.

A Cement Association representative said "For the time being, the decrease in domestic cement consumption is likely to continue, and management performance will further deteriorate. Unless a groundbreaking measure to overcome the construction market slump emerges, the forecast of 40Mt of domestic cement consumption in 2025 seems doubtful."

Spain: Cement consumption grew by 5% year-on-year to 4.88Mt in the first five months of 2025, despite a 3% fall in April 2025, attributed to the Easter period. Consumption increased by 6% to 15.1Mt from May 2024 - April 2025. Exports fell by 0.3% in April 2025 to 0.42Mt, a decrease of 1258t compared to April 2024. In the year-to-date, exports fell by 2% to 1.5Mt. However, they rose by 1% year-on-year in the last 12 months to 4.9Mt, almost 60,000t more than in the previous 12 months. Imports, meanwhile, dropped by 16% from January – April 2025, to 344,305t, but rose by 28% over the last 12 months.

Iran: Cement and steel producers will suspend production for 15 days from 15 May 2025 under a government order to conserve electricity, according to local press reports.

The Iranian Interior Ministry instructed regional power companies to cut supply to large manufacturers, limiting their electricity consumption to 10% of usual demand, according to Tejarat News. The measure aims to reduce industrial consumption amid rising electricity use in the household sector for cooling during ongoing hot weather. The Iranian Energy Ministry said that power availability will increase from mid-June 2025, following the completion of power plant repairs.

Kenya: Kenya’s cement clinker imports have dropped by 93% year-on-year to 10,340t in 2024 from 148,000t in 2023, according to the government’s 2025 Economic Survey. The value of imported clinker fell to US$27,500 from US$409,000 in 2023 and US$3.2bn in 2020. Import volumes had already fallen by 77% in 2023, from 656Mt in 2022.

Cement production declined by 7% from 9.6Mt to 8.9Mt in 2024, while consumption also fell by 7% to 8.5Mt. Construction sector growth contracted by 0.7% in 2024, down from 3% in 2023.

Spain: Cement consumption in Andalusia rose by 13% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2025 to 763,000t, according to the Andalusian Cement Manufacturers Association (AFCA).

In March 2025, consumption reached 254,000t, up by 12% year-on-year. However, clinker and cement exports fell by 9% to 97,600t during the same period.

AFCA president Ricardo de Pablos said “The first quarter of the year reflects a positive trend in cement consumption and, therefore, in construction sector activity.”

De Pablos added that building permits for new homes grew by 31% in 2024, with 31,296 homes authorised for construction throughout 2025, but warned that no investment growth is expected in 2025.

Russia: Siberian Cement’s (Sibcem) five cement plants produced 840,300t of cement in the first quarter of 2025, down by 5% year-on-year. The Topkinsky plant’s output fell by 10% to 346,500t, Iskitimcement by 9% to 210,200t, and Timlyuisky by 24% to 45,900t. Meanwhile, the Krasnoyarsk and Angarsk plants increased production by 10% and 21% to 128,600t and 109,200t respectively.

Vice president of Sibcem Gennady Rasskazov said “According to our calculations, in 2024 the capacity of the Siberian cement market decreased by 2% year-on-year, to 6.7Mt. Currently, demand continues to fall: in the first quarter of 2025, cement consumption in Siberia decreased by 4% year-on-year, and amounted to 1.08Mt. There is every reason to believe that negative trends will intensify in the future.”

Kenya: Cement sales fell by 8% year-on-year to 8.47Mt in 2024, the sharpest annual decline in over two decades, according to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS). The fall reflects budgetary cuts on public infrastructure projects and a broader slowdown in construction activity, which contracted by 3% in the third quarter of 2024, following a 2% drop in the second quarter.

KNBS said in its report “The contraction was reflected by trends in key industry indicators. For instance, cement consumption declined by 10% to 2.2Mt in the third quarter of 2024, from 2.4Mt in the same quarter of 2023.”

According to the Nation newspaper, the slowdown follows delays in the government’s payments to contractors and the stalling of infrastructure projects. The government indicated that most of the stalled projects will begin to receive funding in the next few days and weeks.

Kenya: Cement consumption rose by 27% year-on-year in January 2025, up by 4% in December 2024, according to provisional data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics. Cement production also grew by 21% year-on-year in January following more than a year of contraction. In the 12 months to January 2025, cement consumption fell by 5% year-on-year and cement production dropped by 6% year-on-year.