Japan cement shipments totalled 5.66Mt in July 2005, down 2.9 per cent year-on-year, the Japan Cement Association said on August 29, 2005.  The figure marked a year-on-year decrease for the first time in five months. The decrease can be put down to the smaller number of shipping days in July 2005, compared to July 2004, as well as to the rainy weather in the first half of the month, which hindered construction works in Japan. 
 
Domestic cement shipments stood at 4.83Mt in July 2005, down 3.6 per cent, also marking a year-on-year decrease for the first time in five months.  Overseas cement shipments went up by 1.1 per cent to 833,000t, marking a year-on-year increase for the first time in two months.  Cement inventories stood at 3.86Mt in July 2005, up 3.4 per cent year-on-year, but still below the 4.0Mt mark for the eighth consecutive month.