Brazil's domestic dispatches rise 6.9% YoY

Preliminary data and market estimates indicate that in 2012, total sales by Brazilian producers to the local market reached 68.3Mta, representing an increase of 6.9 per cent over 2011 (63.9Mt), latest figures from Sindicato Nacional da Indústria do Cimento (SNIC) show.

Imports for the year, according to data obtained from the SECEX / MDIC, totaled 977,000t, down 10.4 per cent on 2011 figures (1,091,000t).

Total domestic cement consumption in Brazil in December 2012 reached 5.1Mt, an increase of one per cent in the same month of the previous year. Growth in the fourth quarter of 4.4 per cent decelerated compared to increases witnessed over the first, second and third quarters of the year which saw rise of 13.7, 5.9 and 4.7 per cent, respectively.