Following a four-year downturn, Brazil’s cement sector was in recovery mode in 2019. However, after a slow start to the year due to inclement weather, the coronavirus pandemic resulted in a further drop in sales in spring. The latest data show signs of demand recovery with producers pinning hopes on the implementation of private and public construction projects.
Brazil’s economy is expected to take a sharp fall in the 2Q20. While the quarter may feel the brunt of the decline which could be as much as 4.4 per cent, UBS analysts predict GDP to fall by 5.5 per cent in 2020, after an increase of 1.1 per cent in 2019. In June the IMF forecast a real GDP contraction of 9.1 per cent in 2020.
With public debt already running at 88 per cent of GDP, finance organisations such as the IMF have urged the country, one of the most closed economies globally, to open up its trade to the outside world.
