Cement sales in Portugal’s autonomous region of the Azores Islands grew by 3.6 per cent year-on-year to 334,000t in 2005, according to data of the Azores statistics office SREA reported by the regional daily Jornal Diario on February 14, 2006.  Cement sales on the islands of the Azores archipelago rounded 23,000 tonnes in December 2005 alone, down compared to 32,000 tonnes in the same period a year ago. 
 
Apart from details on the cement sales, SREA report on the performance of the regional construction sector also included information on the building permits issued by the municipalities on the Azores Islands. New building permits issued in 2005 grew to 2026 from 1992 in the previous year. The highest number of 954 permits was registered by Sao Miguel island.