Ecuador first-quarter cement sales rise 10.5% YoY

Domestic cement sales on the Ecuadorian market in the first quarter of 2013 rose by 10.5 per cent YoY while March sales almost reached the half-a-million-tonne mark.

Dispatches for the three months to 31 March 2013 were 1.485Mt compared to 1.344Mt in the same period of 2012, according to the latest statistics from the country's cement association Inecyc.

In March alone, sales reached 499,742t compared to 496,799t in March 2012.

Greater purchasing power among the Ecuadorian population, coupled with improved access to credit, has driven investment in a number of new large-scale housing projects across the country, particularly aimed at low and middle-income families.

Public infrastructure projects are also on the up with the government promising investment of US$1.1bn each year until 2016 in roads and railways. Infrastructure spending fuelled by oil revenues in the run-up to the 2013 election could boost cement demand beyond the current 6Mt mark.