After returning to growth in 2019, Russian cement consumption stalled in 2020 due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Construction output stagnated during the year, but government programmes are expected to stimulate recovery and help cement consumption growth rebound, thus paving the way for cautious optimism in 2021. By Alexey Semenov, GS-Expert, Russia.
The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 had an extremely negative impact on both the Russian economy as a whole and its construction sector. At the end of 2020, GDP fell by 3.1 per cent YoY, industrial production decreased by 2.9 per cent, fixed asset investment was down by 4.1 per cent (accordinsuppg to data over the first nine months of 2020) and real disposable income of the population dropped by 3.5 per cent. The peak of the decline in all indicators occurred in the second quarter of the year when quarantine restrictions were introduced in the country.
