Moroccan cement demand slips 0.7% in 2016

Moroccan cement demand fell 12.5 per cent MoM in December 2016 and slipped 0.7 per cent YoY to just over 14.5Mt in 2016, according to Morocco’s Ministry of Housing and Urbanisation.

In December 2016 the domestic market contract from 1,272,912t in 2015 to 1,114,270t with the largest decreases noted in Tanger-Tétouan-Al Houcein (-21.1 per cent), Casablanca-Settat (-16.8 per cent) and Oriental (-16.5 per cent). At the other end of the spectrum the regional markets of Dakhla-Oued El-Dahab, Drâa-Tafilalet and Guelmim-Oued Noun recorded rises of 26.8, 16.9 and 10 per cent, respectively.

For full-year 2016 Moroccan cement consumption held virtually stable, falling only slightly from 14,251,482t from 2015 to 14,151,482t. The largest market by some margin was Casablanca-Settat with 3,166,008t, which showed a 2.1 per cent expansion YoY from 3,100,852t. The second-largest market – Tanger-Tétouan-Al Houcein – contracted by 4.5 per cent to 1,822,419t while demand in Marrakech-Safi fell 2.4 per cent to 1,814,561t. demand in the Rabat-Salé-Kénitra area remained stable at 1,768,198t. The Oriental demand declined 1.5 per cent to 1,355,012t.