Russian cement trade January-September 2014

According to the Federal Customs Service (FCS), Russia exported over 2Mt of cement worth US$155m in the first three quarters of 2014. Ukraine was the leader by shipments, with its share totalling 35 per cent. Kazakhstan's share reached 32 per cent and Belarus imported 21 per cent.

Meanwhile, over 3.793Mt of cement were imported into Russia between January-September 2014. Belarus was the leader by shipments, with its share totalling 27 per cent. The shipments received from Belarus increased 2.4 times compared with first three quarters of 2013. Iran's imported 14 per cent, Turkey 13 per cent (-48 per cent). Sweden saw a 21 per cent rise in imports, accounting for nine per cent of Russian exports while Latvia imported 16 per cent more, taking seven per cent of the country's export total.

In other regional news, the National Statistical Committee of the Belarus Republic (Belstat) reported that Belarus cement companies produced 4.29Mt of cement in January-September 2014, up 11.2 per cent compared with the same period a year earlier. The country's cement manufacturers produced 596,000t of cement in September 2014, down 4.8 per cent on August 2014, and up 9.1 per cent on September 2013.

Meanwhile, in Razdan, Armenia, Mika Cement, which was suspended in April 2014, resumed production, having paid off most of its debts. The plant intends to produce 0.1Mta of cement by the end of the year. In future, the company intends to widen the range of products and to export produce to Georgia and Russia. A total of 430,900t of cement was produced in Armenia in 2013 versus 437,600t in 2012.