China output growth rate slows

In the first five months of 2012, China’s cement production increased five per cent to 793.98Mt, the National Development and Research Commission (NDRC) said.

However, the growth rate represents a sharp decrease of 14.3 percentage points from the same period last year.

In May, cement output increased 4.3 per cent YoY, down from 19.2 per cent recorded last year.

Between Jan-April, the building material sector saw profits drop seven per cent from a year earlier to CNY81.3bn (US$12.9bn). During that period, profit of cement producers declined 59.9 per cent to CNY9.53bn.