Russia sees 9% fall in 3Q cement demand and output

Russia’s cement consumption and output noted a nine per cent fall in the third quarter of 2016 when compared with the same period a year ago. Volumes decreased to 18.39Mt and 18.35Mt, respectively, according to Construction.ru. The market contraction has been attributed to a four per cent decrease in construction work volume.

The country’s cement plants saw an average capacity utilisation of 70.4 per cent in 3Q16, down 7.3 percentage points when compared with 3Q15. Tulacement came at the top with 126.1 per cent,followed by Shurovsky Cement (125.3 per cent) and Yakut Cement (123.6 per cent).

For the first nine months of 2016, Russian cement output declined by 10.9 per cent YoY from 48.858Mt in 9M2015 to 43.544Mt in 9M16. The largest falls in cement production were noted in Siberia, where YoY figures fell by 15.7 per cent to 5.271Mt, followed by the Volga federal district where volumes decreased by 13 per cent YoY to 9.469Mt and the North-Western federal district which experienced a 12.5 per cent drop in production to 2.614Mt. Further significant losses in output were reported in the Central federal district (-11.4 per cent to 11.243Mt) and Southern federal district (-10.1 per cent to 6.769Mt).

In terms of consumption the January-September period saw demand fall by 10.9 per cent from 49.781Mt in 9M15 to 44.364Mt in 9M16. The largest decrease occurred in the Volga federal district where demand declined 14.4 per cent YoY from 9.372Mt to 8.027Mt. In the North-West federal district consumption was down 13.9 per cent to 3.882Mt while in the Central federal district, the figure was 11.9 per cent lower at 12.9Mt.

Cement trade
Imports into Russia decreased 21.7 per cent YoY in the third quarter with imports from the Republic of Korea, Germany, Latvia, Sweden, Lithuania, Iran and China all registering above-average declines. However, deliveries from Customs Union countries increased significantly. Belarus exported an additional 8.3 per cent while imports from Kazakhstan rose from 100t to 89,000t.

Exports were down by 46.2 per cent in the third quarters. Russia’s key cement export markets, Belarus and Kazakhstan, imported 58.5 and 35.7 per cent less cement in the period when compared with 3Q15. Deliveries to Georgia increased by 47 per cent and 11-fold to Finland.