Displaying items by tag: Consumption
Germany: The German Cement Works Association (VDZ) expects cement consumption to continue growing in 2017. The pronouncement follows data showing that consumption rose by 3.2% year-on-year in the country to 27.5Mt in 2016. VDZ president Christian Knell attributed the growth to a high level of building activity and good weather. Looking forward to the rest of 2017, he said that housing and infrastructure projects are expected to support the growth of cement sales.
Spain: The Spanish cement makers association Oficemen says that cement consumption grew by 11% year-on-year to 4.9Mt in the first five months of 2017. It attributed the rise to increased residential housing construction. The association forecasts that, if the growth continues, the consumption may reach 12.3Mt in 2017, the strongest figure since 2012.
However, exports have fallen by 7.6% to 3.76Mt. Oficemen said that this decline has reduced the benefit of improvements in the domestic market and kept production capacity levels of 50% at cement plants. It also raised recent increases in electricity costs as cutting the competiveness of the industry’s exports.
France: The Syndicat Français de l'industrie Cimentière (SFIC) forecasts that cement consumption will grow faster in the second half of 2017 due to an increase in domestic house building. Association president Raoul de Parisot, said that he expected growth of 3 – 4% in the second half of the year, according to La Croix newspaper. Cement sales grew by 1 – 2% in the first quarter of 2017. The association expects cement consumption to reach 17.9 – 18.1Mt in 2017.
Moroccan cement consumption falls slightly in 2016
13 January 2017Morocco: Cement consumption has fallen by year-on-year 0.7% to 14.1Mt in 2016 from 14.3Mt in 2015. Data from the Ministry of Housing and Urban Policy shows that particular falls in consumption of nearly 10% were recorded in the Béni Mellal – Khénifra and Drâa – Tafilalet regions. However, the country’s Dakhla - Oued Ed-Dahab region in the south-west reported a 64.3% rise in sales to 63,771t.
Belarus: The Belarusian government has reduced its national plan for the production, consumption and export of cement from 2017 to 2020. The national cement production target has been set at 4.5Mt in 2017, 4.7Mt in 2018, 4.9Mt in 2019 and 5.1Mt in 2010, according to local media. During this period it is anticipated that the country’s cement production capacity will fall to 5.9Mt/yr from 5.4Mt/yr. Exports of cement are forecast to reach 1.6Mt in 2017, 1.7Mt in 2018 and 2019 and 1.8Mt in 2020. Consumption of cement is planned to be 3.3Mt/yr in 2017, 3.4Mt in 2018, 3.5Mt in 2019 and 3.6mt in 2020. The country produces cement from three state-controlled integrated plants.
Kenyan cement consumption growth slows in third quarter of 2016
05 January 2017Kenya: Growth in consumption of cement has slowed to 5.3% in the third quarter of 2016 from 11% in the same period of 2015. The slowdown in growth mirrors a fall in growth in the construction sector, which grew by 9.3% in the third quarter of 2016 compared to 15.6% in the same period of 2015, according to data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics. It attributed the fall in growth in part to a ‘considerable’ reduction in civil work on the Standard Gauge Railway from Mombasa to Nairobi as it nears completion.
US: The Portland Cement Association (PCA) has lowered its forecast for cement consumption in 2016 to 2.7% from a previous estimate of 4%. It has also revised downwards its forecast for 2017 to 3.1% from 4.2%, attributing the declines to post-election political uncertainty, inflation and slower construction activity.
“President-elect Trump continues to shape his cabinet and policies, thus making it difficult to forecast potential outcomes at this point,” said PCA Chief Economist Ed Sullivan. “The impact of uncertainty is expected to be compounded by increased inflationary expectations which will impact long-term bonds and loans, such as mortgages – to the detriment of cement consumption.”
In the meantime the PCA has presented three potential political scenarios in its forecast that could shape policy priorities. These scenarios take into account various levels of political support from the US Congress, as well as possible shifts in the President-elect’s previously announced policy objectives that impact cement consumption.
India to take 20% hit in cement demand due to demonetisation
22 November 2016India: Demonetisation policy is expected to reduce cement demand by 15 – 20% until the end of 2016. It will then reduce growth by 3% in the last quarter of the Indian financial year that runs until the end of March 2017, according to a report by Deutsche Bank Markets Research. It added that investors forecast the drop in short-term demand to be ‘severe.’
Research Analyst Chockalingam Narayanan said that he expected demand from infrastructure projects to partially offset weakness in the residential sector. However, investment towards these projects may be impaired where the revenue comes from state government. These bodies rely on up to 10% of their revenue from the property sector that may be adversely effected by demonetisation. Local bodies are responsible for projects such as rural roads, urban development projects, affordable housing, irrigation and more. Larger road and railway budgets are mostly controlled by central government agencies and are expected to be less effected.
Cement consumption in Russia falls by 10.9% so far in 2016
22 November 2016Russia: Cement consumption has fallen by 10.9% year-on-year to 44.3Mt in the first nine months of 2016 from 49.8Mt in the same period in 2015. The biggest decreases occurred on the Central, Volga, Siberian and North-Western federal districts, according to data from the Russian Cement Association (CMPRO) and the Russian Construction journal. Cement production has fallen by 10.9% to 43.5Mt from 48.9Mt. The falls in consumption and production have been blamed on a poor construction market although the residential sector picked up slightly in the third quarter of 2016.
Belgium: FEBELCEM, the federation of cement producers in Belgium, has reported that cement consumption rose by 4.6% year-on-year to 6.4Mt in 2015. It attributed the growth to favourable weather and growth in residential construction. It expressed concern that imports of cement also rose in 2015 by 18% to 1.51Mt from 1.28Mt. This increased the market share of imports to 23.6%.