Spain: April cement demand contracts 3.3%

Cement consumption in Spain fell 3.3 per cent YoY in April, slipping to 946,329t, according to Oficemen.

The latest data bring the figures for the first four months of 2016 to 3,512,140t, reflecting a decrease of 1.2 per cent YoY.

Oficemen attributes the decline particularly to public works, which, according Oficemen’s director general, Aniceto Zaragoza, "is being much worse than expected and does not correspond to the approved by government budgets, which means there is a slowdown of the works implemented.”

Moreover, the cement association does not view the short-term outlook as positive. According Zaragoza, "the prospects are not bright, as the civil works tenders in the first quarter of the year have been lower by around 30 per cent over the same period in 2015."

Construction association Seopan expects the government to continue its fiscal consolidation which is expected to result in reduced public works budgets. This is in line with forecasts by the Bank of Spain, which forecasts that the sector could have experienced “a slight slowdown in activity in the first months of 2016.”

As for the indicators that anticipate future activity, central bank economists point out that the indicators of bidding for public works continued in February showing a "remarkable sluggishness". In residential construction, however, predictions are more positive, due to falling interest rates and improved disposable income of families for job creation.