Cement consumption growth in Kazakhstan is expected to decelerate in 2016, breaking with the decade-long trend of demand expansion of 15-30 per cent annually. Only in 2009, consumption dropped.
"We anticipate cement demand nationwide to decline by up to five YoY this year, from two per cent growth last year," Javier del Ser, CEO of London-listed Steppe Cement, told the Nikkei Asian Review.
Other economic indicators are also sparking fears of a prolonged downturn. Industrial production declined 7.5 per cent YoY in August, one of the sharpest monthly falls in a decade. The economic slowdown has been more visible outside Astana, especially in Aktau, a port city on the Caspian Sea that has long been one of Kazakhstan's fastest growing.
