Sri Lankan cement imports up in 2016

Sri Lanka’s cement production edged up by 19.7t to 1.04Mt in January-May 2016 and imports were up 18.4 per cent to 1.88Mt.

Collectively, production and imports rose by 450,000t to 2.93Mt for the first five months of 2016, an 18.9 per cent increase compared to a year earlier. In the same period in 2015, production and imports rose by 103,000t to 2.46Mt, a 4.4 per cent advance when compared with a year earlier.

The country has recently witnessed a recovery in demand in the housing sector, according to Tokyo Cement. Several state projects had been halted in 2015 following elections, but these have since been given the go-ahead.