South Korea: Domestic cement sales fell by 25% year-on-year to 4.45Mt in the first two months of 2025, according to the Korea Cement Association. This is reportedly the lowest number recorded for domestic sales in January-February in the past five years. Sales during the same period in 2020–2022 exceeded 6Mt, and in 2023 reached 7.12Mt due to delayed post-Covid construction.
Producers have suspended eight of 35 production lines and may halt two more due to high inventories, which reached 3.4Mt at the end of February 2025, close to 90% of storage capacity.
A Korea Cement Association official said “Unless the construction economy recovers, the management crisis in the cement industry caused by the severe drop in demand will continue for the time being.”
