Displaying items by tag: volumes

South Korea: Domestic cement shipments dropped by 25% year-on-year in January and February 2025 to 4.45Mt, with March expected to show a similar decline, according to the Korea Cement Association. If this trend continues, the Dong-a Ilbo newspaper reports that annual demand could fall to the 30Mt range, comparable to levels seen in the 1980s. 2024’s shipment volumes reached 44.2Mt, and a drop of more than 10% in 2025 would see this figure drop below the 40Mt threshold, not seen since 1991. The slump has been attributed to persistent structural issues in the construction sector, including a backlog of unsold regional housing.

A Korea Cement Association official said “The role of cement as a core pillar of national industrial growth has faded, leaving only a sense of crisis. This severe demand collapse is likely to persist for the foreseeable future.”

India: Nuvoco Vistas Corporation has reported that a decline in cement and ready-mix concrete sales caused an 85% year-on-year fall in its net consolidated profit for the 2025 financial year (FY2025), which ended on 31 March 2025.

Its net profit attributable to its owners fell from US$17.5m in FY2024 to just US$2.6m in FY2025. Its revenues from operations fell by 3.5% to US$1.23bn, while revenues from cement operations also fell by 3.5%, to US$1.12bn. Nuvoco Vistas sold 1.94Mt of cement during FY2025.

Nuvoco Vistas’s managing director, Jayakumar Krishnaswamy, said "Despite a subdued demand environment in the first half of FY2025, the company witnessed a strong rebound in the second half. The company responded swiftly by capitalising on emerging opportunities to strengthen its market presence.”

Indonesia: PT Indocement Tunggal Prakarsa (INTP) recorded a 6% year-on-year drop in cement sales to 3.9Mt in the year to 31 March 2025, according to local press. INTP corporate secretary Dani Handajani said that the beginning of the year was typically a low-demand period due to weather, Ramadan and Eid holidays, but noted that the company's sales decline was smaller than the national industry’s 8% fall. Good news also came from the development of the new capital city Nusantara, which is back on track after being delayed. The project is expected to boost cement demand in Kalimantan.

Handajani warned that Indonesia’s cement oversupply problem will likely continue in 2025, and requires government policies like a ban on imports and the construction of new plants in the country.

India: ICRA expects cement volumes to grow by 6-7% in the 2026 financial year, following a 6% rise in 2025, driven by housing and infrastructure demand. Capacity additions are forecast to increase to 43-45Mt/yr from 32-35Mt/yr in 2025. Eastern and northern regions will lead the expansion, with 22–24Mt/yr of new grinding capacity.

The assistant vice president of corporate ratings, Abhishek Lahoti, added “The southern region, despite an oversupply of capacity, is experiencing significant capacity additions by large cement companies as it is operating at optimal utilisation levels and intends to maintain its market share in the near term. Overall, the industry’s capacity utilisation is likely to remain stable at 70% in the 2026 financial year, similar to the previous financial year, on an expanded base.”

Indonesia: Indocement recorded sales of 20.5Mt of cement and clinker in 2024, up by 1150t (6%) year-on-year. Corporate secretary Dani Handajani said the producer held a 30% domestic market share, with a 38% share in Java and a 21% share outside Java, according to the Cement Association of Indonesia (ASI). Handajani said that domestic bulk cement sales increased due to the new capital city project and acceleration of infrastructure projects in Java. Its exports reached 0.32Mt.

Pakistan: Cement exports rose by 5% year-on-year to US$188m in the first seven months of the 2024 financial year, while volumes increased by 35% year-on-year to 5.27Mt, according to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).

The country's cement exports grew by 40% year-on-year to US$20.6m in January 2025, but fell by 35% month-on-month from US$31.9m in December 2024. This suggests strong international demand, accompanied by short-term fluctuations in global shipments.

Uzbekistan: Cement sales on the Uzbekistan Commodity Exchange (UZEX) grew by 58% year-on-year to 5.9Mt in 2024, with average monthly sales exceeding 0.49Mt, according to Business World Magazine.

Ahangarantsement held 18% of total cement sales volume, followed by Kyzylkumsement (3%) and Bekabadcement (1%). Tashkent and the Tashkent region observed the highest demand for cement at 34% of purchases, followed by Samarkand (15%) and Kashkadarya (14%). Ferghana held 8%, with other regions purchasing smaller volumes.

Kazakhstan: Steppe Cement has published its nine-month trading update for 2024, showing a drop in sales of 2% year-on-year in nine months up to 30 September 2024, to US$63m. Sales volumes remained level year-on-year at 1.34Mt. Regulatory News Service has reported that Steppe Cement attributed medium-term increases in production and the stabilisation of costs to capacity expansions and other capital expenditure investments since 2022. Nine-month domestic cement consumption was 9.1Mt, in line with nine-month 2023 levels. Imports accounted for 319,000t (4%) of total consumption. Meanwhile, exports totalled 720,000t.

Regarding results for the third quarter of 2024, CEO Javier del Ser Perez said "We recovered both volumes and pricing in the third quarter of 2024, following a price adjustment in the second quarter. While competition remains strong, our plant has continued to enhance its capacity and productivity, enabling us to offset the impact of past inflation. We remain focused on driving higher volumes and cash generation.”

Spain: The first eight months of 2024 have seen a 1.4% decrease in Spain's cement consumption, totalling 9.64Mt, a drop of 141,740t from the same period in 2023, according to data released by Oficemen. Despite this overall decrease, the industry experienced mixed results in the summer months, with a notable 12.5% increase in July 2024 and a 6% decline in August 2024.

Cement demand over the last 12 months, from September 2023 to August 2024, has decreased by 3%, showing an improvement of 1.3% compared to the figures recorded in June 2024. The total volume of cement sold was 14.3Mt, reflecting a decrease of 462,636t from 2023.

Exports dropped by 17.5% in the first eight months of 2024, although this is an improvement from the 20% decline noted at the end of the first half of 2024. Despite a 13.5% growth in exports in July 2024, August 2024 saw a fall of 18%.

General director of Oficemen, Aniceto Zaragoza, said “Despite the decline in August 2024, the evolution of accumulated consumption in 2024, once the figures for the two summer months have been incorporated, has improved by almost two percentage points since the 3% drop recorded in June 2024, which confirms our forecasts of a moderate change in trend towards more positive data for the end of the 2024 financial year."

US: Peru-based Unacem recorded a rise in cement sales volumes in its US operations during the second quarter of 2024 to 324,000t, a 96% increase from the same period in 2023. It partly attributed the growth to the addition of the Tehachapi plant in California in August 2023, which contributed 159,000t during the reporting period, Noticias Financieras News has reported.

However, in the Peruvian market, Unacem reported cement sales volumes of 1.37Mt, down by 2.8% compared to the second quarter of 2023.