Cemex Philippines remains optimistic that growth in the domestic cement sector will continue to grow this year on the back of the robust construction industry and high government spending.

“We expect the growth to continue this year,” Paul Arcenas, Cemex Philippines vice president for strategic planning told the Sun.Star newspaper yesterday.

To meet expected rises in demand, the company is allocating US$80m to finance an additional 1.5Mta of capacity in its Naga plant this year as well as the expansion of terminals and improvement of distribution facilities. According to Arcenas, it will add 40 per cent to the total Cemex Philippines capacity.  The Naga plant expansion will come on-stream by the second or third quarter this year.