China’s cement production recovered quickly in recent two months after a sharp slide since April last year when the government took harsh macro economic control measures to rein in overheating of fixed assets investments, particularly in iron and steel, real estate, cement and electrolytic aluminum industries.  
 
According to official statistics, China produced 361.20Mt of cement in January-May, an increase of 5.8 per cent year on year, up from 4.1 per cent for the first four months and 1.2 per cent for the first quarter.  In May alone, the cement output surged 13 per cent year on year to hit 93.46Mt, the highest growth rate this year. 
 
By producer, the output of large cement producers outgrew that of small ones. The output of enterprises each with annual capacity of over 600,000t posted an 11.99 per cent increase year on year in the first five months, while that of medium-sized enterprises saw an increase of only 0.71 per cent and that of small enterprises had a 4.1 percent increase.  
 
The May production expansion was accompanied by a moderate rise in price. In the month, the nationwide average producer price of cement stood at 227.55 yuan per ton, up 0.57 yuan over the previous month, though it was still 8.05 yuan per ton lower than that a year earlier.