Moroccan cement demand drops 5.4% in 2014

The Moroccan cement market contracted by 5.4 per cent to 14.1Mt in 2014, reaching a new low as demand hits a level not seen since 2008.

The country’s construction sector remains depressed with 177,300 dwellings starting construction but no advances in social housing or self-construction. In addition, the higher-end real estate and tourist markets no longer provide relief. Historically-low interest rates are also unable to reinvigorate the market and economic uncertainty weighs heavily on the construction market.

For the Association Professionnelle des Cimentiers (APC), "the combined effect of several, mostly exogenous, factors, including the falling price of oil, the revival of international demand, good harvest, the significant improvement of the resources of State and rising public investment “ have been quoted as key factors in this trend.