The past year has seen the emergence of new trading trends in the Euro-Med region with rising energy costs, an increase in exports from non-European countries and growing demand for supplementary cementitious materials. DSG Consultants illustrates the new trading patterns observed in the Mediterranean area, plus provides an outlook for 2023. By Sylvie Doutres, DSG Consultants, France.
Last year was one of living dangerously in Europe and the Mediterranean area. The war in Ukraine revealed many weaknesses in European industry supply chains, and their high dependence on Russian coal and gas. As a result, energy costs exploded (both in terms of primary fuels and electricity) in most Euro-Med countries, including Turkey and Egypt. The energy crisis made producers who rely on imported energy and have lower alternative fuels usage rates (such as those in Spain and Turkey) more vulnerable, which affected their international competitiveness. Energy cost inflation spread over raw materials, ship bunkerage and labour forces, thereby creating global inflation on the delivered prices of all building materials. Countries with access to low-cost energy (eg, Algeria) and government price incentives (eg, Egypt) were favoured in cement international trade, especially in price sensitive markets.
