Peru’s overall cement sales in August rose 16.9% to 405,095t from the same month a year before, with Cementos Lima SA leading the way, the National Association of Cement Producers, or Asocem, said Wednesday. Cementos Lima sold 203,000t of cement in August, which includes 68,662t sold for export in the month, the association said. Cementos Pacasmayo SAA, the second-largest cement producer, had sales of 61,953t in August, it added. In the January to August period, overall cement sales totaled 3,011,398t of cement,a 10.6% increase from the 2,722,572t sold in the same period a year before. Cement production, an indicator of domestic demand, is a key component of activity in the construction sector. Peru’s construction sector expanded by 4.95 per cent in the January to July period this year compared with the same period last year, the government’s statistics agency, INEI, said in a separate report Wednesday.