China: China's cement exports have dropped by 15% in volume and by 8.3% in value from January to May 2012. China exported 4.04Mt of cement clinker from January to May 2012, a decrease of 15% year-on-year. The value of export dropped by 8.3% to US$240m.

Exports of cement clinker to Africa and Hong Kong have dropped but those to Bangladesh, Mongolia and the ASEAN region have increased. China's export of cement clinker to Africa dropped by 20.5% year-on-year to 1.76Mt during the five-month period. Exports to Hong Kong also dropped by 17.2% to 244,000t. By contrast, exports to Bangladesh jumped by 230% to 385,000t. Exports to Mongolia increased by 65.6% to 396,000t and exports to the ASEAN region jumped by 4.7% to 348,000t.

A majority, 80%, of the exports were general trade but border trade of cement is also increasing rapidly. State-owned companies were major exporters, exporting 2.07Mt of cement and sharing 51.4% of China's total export of cement. Private companies, exported 17% less year-on-year, 1.40Mt of cement, comprising 34.6% of all cement export. Foreign-funded companies, sharing 14% of cement exports, exported 566,000t of cement. Among all kinds of cement exported 3.15Mt, of 78%, was Portland cement.

The slow economy offshore also hurt cement export to traditional markets. In the five-month period, China's export of cement to the EU dropped by 86.1% year-on-year, while exports to the Russian Federation and Latin America also slid by 61.9% and 57.7% respectively.

The commencement of major infrastructure, railway and transport projects approved by the State Council for the 12th Five-year period (2011-2015) are expected to drive the demand for cement up. A consolidation in cement output may also happen when more foreign companies start to withdraw or scale down their investments in cement projects.