Displaying items by tag: Consumption

Spain: Cement consumption grew by 2.5% year-on-year to 7.49Mt in the first half of 2022. Data from the Spanish cement association Oficemen also shows that exports fell by 21% to 2.91Mt. It said that this is the first time since 2011 that Spanish cement exports have fallen below 3Mt in the first half of the year. The association has warned of potential threats to the sector such as inflation and a recession in the second half of 2022.

Aniceto Zaragoza, the general manager of Oficemen, said “Since the Iberian Mechanism began to be applied, there has been a drop in the average price of electricity for industry, although much less significant than expected. The mechanism is capable of moderating the price of the wholesale market, but the lack of wind generation caused by the heat wave and the consequent increase in the use of combined cycles, together with the increase in the price of gas, makes a global reform necessary of the European electricity market.”

India: UltraTech Cement plans to increase its installed cement production capacity to 154Mt/yr by the beginning of the 2026 financial year on 1 April 2025. The increase represents a composite annual growth rate of 10% from 115Mt/yr at the start of the 2023 financial year. The Economic Times newspaper has reported that the producer plans to carry out the expansion in two phases.

Indian domestic cement consumption is forecast to continue growing by 5% year-on-year over a five-year period to July 2027.

South Africa: PPC’s full-year consolidated sales were US$624m in the 2022 financial year, which ended on 31 March 2022, up by 11% year-on-year from US$561m in the 2021 financial year. Its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell by 6.9% to US$94.5m from US$101m. During the year, the group reduced its debt by 55% to US$63m from US$139m.

The group noted high cement demand across its markets in the 2022 financial year, including a sales volumes increase of 28% year-on-year in Zimbabwe. It also noted a 19% year-on-year increase in South African cement imports, mainly from Vietnam, which constituted 10% of sales in the 2022 financial year. PPC said that it will ‘immediately make additional capacity available’ to capture the increased demand through the rest of 2023 financial year.

Zimbabwe: Fossil Mines plans to keep Lafarge Zimbabwe publicly traded and to recapitalise it through investments after it completes its acquisition of the company. The Insider newspaper has reported that this will lead to an increase in the company’s cement production.

Zimbabwe consumed 1.4Mt of cement in 2021, of which 560,000t (40%) was imported. Switzerland-based Holcim agreed to sell its 76% stake in national number two producer Lafarge Zimbabwe to Fossil Mines earlier in June 2022.

Philippines: The Philippines imported 6.47Mt of cement from Vietnam in 2021, 91% of a total 7.11Mt of cement imported in the year. The Cement Manufacturers Association of the Philippines (CeMAP) recorded that total imports increased by 14% year-on-year from 6.25Mt of cement in 2020, while imports from Vietnam increased by 20% year-on-year from 5.4Mt.

The Manila Bulletin newspaper has reported that Philippine cement producers increased their production capacity by 23% year-on-year to 35.3Mt/yr at the beginning of 2022. CeMAP projected further capacity growth of 55% to 54.8Mt/yr by the end of 2025, against a domestic demand that year of 66Mt/yr.

Cameroon: The Cameroon Minister of Trade Luc-Magloire Mbarga has authorised cement producers and importers to begin importing more cement from Congo and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in order to combat a local shortage. The Business in Cameroon newspaper has reported that Mbarga said that authorisation will operate temporarily, until high cement prices drop.

In 2021, Cameroon produced 4.5Mt of cement. Its domestic consumption was 4Mt, up by 14% year-on-year from 3.5Mt in 2021.

Dominican Republic: First-quarter domestic cement consumption in the Dominican Republic rose by 2.9% year-on-year in 2022. The Dominican Association of Portland Cement Producers (ADOCEM) said that producers’ costs rose year-on-year, particularly in the area of fuels, which accounts for 60% of costs. Electricity prices also rose during the quarter.

Association president Felix Gonzalez said "Without a doubt, energy management is a key point in the economic sphere of a cement plant since it makes this industry very susceptible to deficiencies and high tariffs in the electricity sector, as well as to the continuously increasing costs of oil and its derivatives.”

In 2021, ADOCEM members produced 6.5Mt of cement, up by 27% year-on-year from 5.1Mt in 2020. Full-year consumption was 5.5Mt.

Japan: Taiheiyo Cement’s consolidated sales declined by 18% in its 2022 financial year, which ended on 31 March 2022, to US$5.51bn from US$6.72bn. The group’s net profit was US$225m, down by 38% from US$364m.

Nikkei Financial Summary News has reported that Japanese cement consumption was 37.9Mt in the 2022 financial year, down by 2% year-on-year.

Argentina: Data from the Asociación de Fabricantes de Cemento Portland (AFCP) shows that cement shipments grew by 7% year-on-year to 2.89Mt in the first quarter of 2022 from 2.71Mt in the same period in 2021. Local consumption of cement increased at a similar rate but exports rose by 18% to 31,040t from 26,276t.

Russia: The government is ‘working to establish import flows’ of building materials from Uzbekistan. Russian media sources have reported that the construction industry is also hoping to expand import partnerships with China, India, Iran and Turkey. Russian cement production reportedly continues to adequately serve the national demand for cement.