According to the latest figures available, European cement production recorded a moderate growth of 0.9 per cent in 2015, compared to the previous year. This translates into 248Mt of cement in the Cembureau member countries.
When put into a global context, of the 4.6bnt produced, Cembureau members accounted for 5.4 per cent. China remained the world’s largest cement producing country, accounting for just over 51 per cent of global production.
Individual European markets recorded a mixed performance. For example, cement production in Spain grew by +3.3 per cent in 2015. Nevertheless, in Italy the recession in cement production continued (-3.4 per cent in 2015 further to -7.4 per cent in 2014), as it did in France (-5 per cent, further to -3.1 per cent).
Cement production gained further ground in several eastern European countries, with strong performances recorded in the Czech Republic, Hungary and Romania in particular. In the EU28 as a whole, cement production increased by +3.7 per cent YoY, ie from 165.8Mt to 172Mt – marking the second consecutive year of recovery. Nevertheless, it is important to bear in mind that 2015 EU28 cement production was some 37.3 per cent below the peak of the previous cycle (2007).
Looking at this from a broader EU economic perspective, EU GDP grew by +1.9 per cent in 2015 (+1.4 per cent higher than in 2014), although a slowdown was recorded during the second half of the year. Virtually no EU Member State recorded an economic recession in 2015. This has paved the way for expectations of positive GDP growth for the EU28 in 2016 (+1.9 per cent), thanks to a combination of the European Central Bank’s (ECB) Asset Purchase Programme (also referred to as Quantitative Easing, QE) and somewhat eased fiscal discipline in euro area countries.
