Investment in China’s cement sector declined 8.3 per cent YoY to CNY143.9bn (US$22.85) in 2011, the country’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) reported.
The decline was the first drop in five years amid the government’s policies to curb overcapacity, MIIT said in a statement on its website.
The figure was 40.2 percentage points lower than the average level of the building materials industry, the MIIT added.
Investments in the eastern region fell 13.5 per cent YoY to CNY38.1bn last year, while western and central invested CNY60.7bn and CNY45.1bn, down 8.1 and 3.7 per cent, respectively, according to the data.
The Chinese government has been stepping up the shutdown of outdated facilities and aims to eliminate 250Mt of outdated capacity over the 2011-15 period, according to a five-year plan released by the MIIT last November.
