Following a challenging year in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Brazil’s cement industry enjoyed better times in 2021. However, uncertainty on several levels has led to growth stalling at the start of 2022 as cement makers face lower market growth and the need to invest in reducing their carbon footprint. By SNIC, Brazil.

After a sharp drop in 2020 – largely due to the COVID-19 pandemic – Brazil’s GDP increased by 4.6 per cent in 2021 – the largest annual growth since 2010. However, the leap was primarily explained by the previous year’s low base when GDP fell by 3.9 per cent YoY.

Economic growth in 2021 was driven by increases in services (+4.7 per cent) and industry (+4.5 per cent), which together represent 90 per cent of Brazilian GDP. In addition, the civil construction sector put in a strong performance by seeing an expansion of 9.7 per cent, having recovered from a 6.3 per cent decrease in the previous year.