Thailand’s cement sales in January 2005 showed an impressive growth of 19.6 per cent YoY. The January sales were well above expectation. Domestic cement demand is expected to expand by 10-15 per cent this year compared with a 12 per cent growth last year. Despite improving domestic demand, Thailand’s cement consumption of 366kg per capita in 2003 was still 40 per cent below its peak level in 1996 of 620kg per capita. Compared with other Asian countries, Thailand’s cement consumption had recovered the slowest (says KGI Securities). Thai cement consumption per capita is expected to catch up its regional peers given rising construction expenditure for coming years mainly from the government’s public infrastructure projects, which should lead to higher cement demand.