Displaying items by tag: data

Argentina: Cement despatches rose by 28% year-on-year to 844,000t in April 2025, compared to 661,319t in April 2024, according to data from the Asociación de Fabricantes de Cemento Portland (AFCP). Total despatches for the first four months of 2025 reached 3.18Mt, up by 15% year-on-year from 2.76Mt in the previous corresponding period.

Domestic consumption, including imports, rose by 28% year-on-year to 837,000t in April 2025, from 655,000t in April 2024. Total consumption increased by 15% to 3.14Mt for the first four months of 2025.

Kenya: Kenya’s cement clinker imports have dropped by 93% year-on-year to 10,340t in 2024 from 148,000t in 2023, according to the government’s 2025 Economic Survey. The value of imported clinker fell to US$27,500 from US$409,000 in 2023 and US$3.2bn in 2020. Import volumes had already fallen by 77% in 2023, from 656Mt in 2022.

Cement production declined by 7% from 9.6Mt to 8.9Mt in 2024, while consumption also fell by 7% to 8.5Mt. Construction sector growth contracted by 0.7% in 2024, down from 3% in 2023.

Uzbekistan: Cement companies produced 3.65Mt of cement in January - March 2025, up by 62% year-on-year from 2.26Mt in 2024. According to data from the National Statistical Committee, output had previously risen by 31% from 2.03Mt in the first quarter of 2023 to 2.26Mt in 2024.

Stop press! The Portland Cement Association (PCA) has renamed itself as the American Cement Association (ACA).

Speaking to the audience at the IEEE-IAS/PCA Cement Industry Cement Conference taking place this week in Birmingham, Alabama, ACA president Mike Ireland said that the new name better represents its members, from the Atlantic seaboard to the Pacific coast. He added that the old name, the PCA, had caused the association confusion over the years with it being mistaken as only representing Portland, Oregon, or Portland, Maine.

This follows comments from Ireland to Global Cement Magazine in April 2024. At that time he also mentioned how changing levels of production of ordinary Portland cement (OPC) compared to blended cements had suggested a rethink. Surveys were then sent out by the PCA asking people what they thought about in connection to the association and which name suggestions they liked. A year or so later and the new name has arrived. Thankfully the PCA didn’t determine the name by public ballot alone, thereby avoiding the risk of a joke name. Readers wondering about this can remind themselves about the time the UK Natural Environment Research Council ran a website survey asking what a new polar research ship should be called. The vessel was eventually called the RRS Sir David Attenborough rather than the internet’s choice of Boaty McBoatface!

Global Cement Weekly also reflected upon the point Ireland made about the change in the blends of cement being used. The adoption of Portland Limestone Cement (PLC) production in the US contributed to the rise in blended cements shipments. United States Geological Survey (USGS) data shows that shipments of blended cements more than doubled from 26Mt in 2022 to 61Mt in 2024. This compares to shipments of OPC of 41Mt in 2024. This change appears to have been mostly accepted so far, but it is not without its detractors. For example, take this campaign promoting a return to traditional Type I and II cements on ‘performance’ grounds.

As for the US cement market, USGS data shows that shipments of Portland and blended cement fell by about 13% year-on-year to 11.8Mt in the first two months of 2025 from 13.8Mt in the same period in 2024. This was for both domestic shipments and imports. Most of the cement companies that have so far released first quarter financial results for 2025 reported poor weather adversely affecting sales. Holcim noted that sales improved in March 2025. Cemex blamed its lower sales volumes of cement and ready-mixed concrete on the period having one less working day compared to 2024. CRH pointed out in its analysts’ presentation that the first quarter of the year is typically the smallest of the four in terms of sales volumes. The really interesting data may start to emerge in the second and subsequent quarters, as the markets and supply chains start to react to current US trade policy. At the time of writing, widespread tariffs on many countries were announced at the start of April 2025 but then subsequently paused for 90 days.

The American Cement Association has a new name for the 21st Century. The PCA has served it well as a name for over 100 years, but now seems a good time for a change. Whether the future is one of blended cements, carbon capture, a return to OPC or whatever else remains to be seen. Yet the future of construction in the US looks set to involve plenty of cement. There are sure to be challenges along the way. Here’s to the next 100 years.

Vietnam: Vietnam produced 55.9Mt of cement in the first four months of 2025, up by 9% year-on-year, according to data from the National Statistics Office. In April 2025, output rose by 7.5% year-on-year to 16.8Mt. The country produced 184.2Mt in 2024, up by 3.5% year-on-year.

Spain: Cement consumption in Andalusia rose by 13% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2025 to 763,000t, according to the Andalusian Cement Manufacturers Association (AFCA).

In March 2025, consumption reached 254,000t, up by 12% year-on-year. However, clinker and cement exports fell by 9% to 97,600t during the same period.

AFCA president Ricardo de Pablos said “The first quarter of the year reflects a positive trend in cement consumption and, therefore, in construction sector activity.”

De Pablos added that building permits for new homes grew by 31% in 2024, with 31,296 homes authorised for construction throughout 2025, but warned that no investment growth is expected in 2025.

Kyrgyzstan: A total of 0.58Mt of cement was produced during the first quarter of 2025. This was a rise of 51.6% year-on-year compared to 0.38Mt in the first quarter of 2024, according to the National Statistical Committee. It was also higher than the first quarter of 2023, when 0.45Mt of cement was produced.

However, construction companies and buyers of construction materials have recently encountered cement shortages in the capital city Bishkek. Local finance media source Tazabek reported that it has contacted several construction stores, wholesale and retail points of sale of cement, which confirmed shortages. Cement is expected to be back in stock within 10 days.

Belarus: Belarusian Cement enterprises produced 5.34Mt of cement in 2024, up by 7% year-on-year, with shipments rising by 10% and total sales to domestic and foreign markets by 6.5%.

The holding company’s three plants, OJSC Krasnoselskstroymaterialy, Belarusian Cement Plant and OJSC Krichevcementnoshifer, accounted for 86.5% of domestic cement sales in the first quarter of 2025. The group also exports to Russia, supplying up to 10% of demand in the Central and Northwestern Federal Districts. It plans to increase market share further by modernising its production lines.

Sectoral adjustment continued for the cement industry in China in 2024. Now that the financial results from many of the larger China-based cement producers are out it gives Global Cement Weekly a chance to review the world’s biggest cement market. The decline in national output of cement accelerated in 2024 and the results showed this. CNBM summed up the situation as follows: “In 2024, affected by the reduction of real estate investment and the slowdown of infrastructure projects, the cement industry in China was caught in a situation of insufficient demand and aggravated overcapacity.” Output dropped by just under 10% year-on-year to 1.83Bnt in 2024 according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics of China (NBS). This is the fourth consecutive annual decline and the lowest figure the sector has experienced since around 2010.

Graph 1: Cement output in China, 2018 to 2024. Source: National Bureau of Statistics of China.

The China Cement Association’s (CCA) assessment concurred with CNBM. Although it detected a slowing in the decline in the second half of 2024, especially in the fourth quarter. It noted that the country has a production capacity of 1.81Bnt/yr and an estimated clinker utilisation rate of 53% in 2024. Note the large apparent difference this may suggest between the NBS and CCA figures. Data from the NBS for the first quarter of 2025 has shown a slowing of the decline. Output was 331Mt, a fall of just 1.7% year-on-year from the same period in 2023. The CCA’s prediction for 2025 is that cement demand will fall by 5% as the real estate market continues to deflate. However, it expects government-led capacity reduction schemes to start making progress.

Graph 2: Sales revenue from selected Chinese cement producers. Source: Company financial reports.

Graph 3: Sales volumes of cement and clinker from selected Chinese cement producers. Source: Company financial reports.

CNBM’s sales revenue fell by 14% to US$24.8bn in 2024. Sales of its Basic Building Materials segment fell by 23% to US$12.5bn. This was blamed on falling volumes and prices of cement and other heavy building materials. Sales from the group’s two other segments - New Materials and Engineering Technology Services - rose modestly but this wasn’t enough to hold up total group sales. Operating profit from the Basic Building Materials segment decreased by 45% to US$544m. It was a similar picture at Anhui Conch with sales revenue and net profit down by 36% to US$12.4bn and by 25% to US$1.01bn respectively. Notably, CNBM’s sales volumes of cement decreased by 21% to 245Mt in 2024 compared to a decrease of 6.5% to 268Mt by Anhui Conch. This made Anhui Conch the world’s biggest cement company by sales volumes in 2024.

Tangshan Jidong Cement and China Resources Building Materials Technology (CRBMT) both reported a similar situation. Revenue was down and a net loss was reported by the former. Both revenue and net profit were down for the latter. CRBMT said that its cement capacity utilisation rate was 69% in 2024, down from 71% in 2023. This appears to be significantly higher than the national rate mentioned above by the CCA but the company’s regional distribution may be at play here.

Following from recent years, Huaxin Cement bucked the general market trend and its revenue rose modestly to US$4.7bn in 2024. Its net profit still fell by 12.5% to US$330m. Its overseas businesses made the difference. It reported an increase of 37% to 16.2Mt in overseas cement sales with its non-China cement production capacity rising by 8% to 22.5Mt/yr. Milestones include various new or upgraded plant projects in Sub-Saharan Africa capped off by its announcement at the end of 2024 that it was preparing to buy Lafarge Africa. Other cement companies were also keen to promote overseas activity. CNBM said that the first signing of overseas merger and acquisition was achieved in 2024. This is likely to be the purchase of the Djebel El Oust cement plant in Tunisia from Votorantim Cimentos that was completed in late March 2025. Tangshan Jidong Cement acquired the remaining 40% share in South Africa-based Mamba Cement in April 2024.

All of this leaves the cement sector in China still waiting for the market to stabilise. US tariffs seem unlikely to have an effect in any meaningful way unless the general economy is altered. The declining real estate sector and cement production overcapacity are the main drivers at the national level. The CCA expects the real estate market to continue to fall in 2025 although it hopes that government remedy measures will start to show an effect. It is more optimistic about capacity reduction plans. One route towards this is through merger and acquisition activity. In a recent response to investors about industry integration, Huaxin Cement speculated that the sector might consolidate down to 30 companies from around 300 at present. There is clearly still a way to go.

Russia: Siberian Cement’s (Sibcem) five cement plants produced 840,300t of cement in the first quarter of 2025, down by 5% year-on-year. The Topkinsky plant’s output fell by 10% to 346,500t, Iskitimcement by 9% to 210,200t, and Timlyuisky by 24% to 45,900t. Meanwhile, the Krasnoyarsk and Angarsk plants increased production by 10% and 21% to 128,600t and 109,200t respectively.

Vice president of Sibcem Gennady Rasskazov said “According to our calculations, in 2024 the capacity of the Siberian cement market decreased by 2% year-on-year, to 6.7Mt. Currently, demand continues to fall: in the first quarter of 2025, cement consumption in Siberia decreased by 4% year-on-year, and amounted to 1.08Mt. There is every reason to believe that negative trends will intensify in the future.”