Displaying items by tag: Consumption

Argentina: Data from the Association of Portland Cement Manufacturers (AFCP) shows that cement consumption fell by 6% year-on-year to 8.5Mt in the first nine months of 2019 from 9Mt in the same period in 2018. Local despatches dropped by 5% to 8.5Mt to 8.9Mt, although exports rose slightly.

Germany: Data from the German Cement Works Association (VDZ) shows that cement consumption rose slightly to 29Mt in 2018. Imports were 1.5Mt and exports rose by 1.5% year-on-year to 6.3Mt. The association says that this shows the industry is in a stable phase that is expected to continue in 2019 and 2020.

"There has been an upward trend in the German cement market for four years now, thanks in particular to the positive development in the apartment block sector," said VDZ president Christian Knell. He added that annual growth in consumption had slowed but that this was ‘hardly surprising’ given the ‘tight’ capacities along the construction value chain.

Spain: Cement consumption in Andalusia fell by 3.3% in August 2019 to 221,970t. For January – August 2019 total consumption was 1.87Mt. It is thought that this is due to reduction in the region’s construction sector and a lack of civil works.

Exports fell by 58% year-on-year, reaching 88,136t, around 124,719t less than in August 2018. The accumulated value for 2019 is currently 46% lower year-on-year, at 731,720t.

Puerto Rico: Cement sales in Puerto Rico experienced a year-on-year fall of 7.4% in September 2019, to stand at 43,500t, the eighth consecutive monthly fall. Meanwhile, overall domestic cement production rose by 1.0% in the month under review, to reach 41,000t. This is the third increase reported to be observed during the first nine months of 2019.

Spain: Cement consumption has fallen in June 2019 following slowing rates in April and May 2019. Data from the Spanish cement association Oficemen indicates that consumption in June 2019 fell by 2.9% year-on-year to 1.21Mt. Oficemen President Jesus Ortiz attributed the slowdown to slow update of government infrastructure projects.

Peru: Cement production rose by 6% year-on-year to 5.02Mt in the first half of 2019 from 4.75Mt in the same period in 2018. Local despatches rose by 5% to 4.84Mt from 4.60Mt. Data from the Asociación de Productores de Cemento (ASOCEM) shows that clinker exports fell by 18% to 0.45Mt from 0.55Mt. Clinker imports remained stable. Consumption increased by 3% to 5.50Mt from 5.33Mt.

Democratic Republic of Congo: Data from the Central Bank of the Congo shows that cement production more than doubled to 1.84Mt in 2018 from 0.90Mt in 2017. Consumption showed a similar trend rising to 1.83Mt from 0.88Mt. Production during the first quarter of 2019 grew by 13% year-on-year to 0.30Mt. The growth in production and consumption has been attributed to new plants, a ban on imports and a strong housing market in Kinshasa.

Kenya: Data from the Kenya Bureau of Statistics shows that cement production fell by 6% year-on-year to 1.46Mt in the first quarter of 2019 from 1.55Mt in the same period in 2018. Cement consumption dropped by 3% to 1.46Mt from 1.50Mt. Cement consumption previously grew by 2.8% year-on-year to 5.9Mt in 2018 from 5.8Mt in 2017. However, production fell by 2.6% to 6.07Mt from 6.23Mt. Imports increased by around 50% to 23,000t but exports decreased by 63% to 0.14Mt from 0.39Mt, mainly due to a major drop in deliveries to Uganda and Tanzania.

Burkina Faso: Harouna Kaboré, the Minister of Commerce, Industry and Handicraft, has inaugurated a new mill at Cimburkina’s cement grinding plant at Kossodo in Ouagadougou. By installing the new mill the unit has doubled it production capacity to 2Mt/yr, according to the Sidwaya newspaper. The upgrade cost US$25m.

François Sangline, the director general of the subsidiary of Germany’s HeidelbergCement, said that the 2000t limestone silo feeds the production line consisting of two 150t/hr cement grinding mills. This is followed by a 120t/hr bagging unit. Sangline noted that the country’s cement consumption of 2.5Mt/yr is below the domestic cement production capacity of 6Mt/yr. Due to this he lobbied the government to protect local production against imports and fraud.

Morocco: Cement sales in Morocco during the first four months of 2019 have reached 4.8Mt, an increase of nearly 6% compared to the same period of 2018. April 2019 was the fourth straight month of improved sales. The increase reverses the trend seen in the previous two sets of four-month statistics, which saw falling volumes year-on-year in both 2017 (5.3% decrease) and 2018 (5.5% decrease).