In July some 1.041Mt of grey cement were dispatched in Colombia, an increase of 12.6 per cent YoY, according DANE, the country’s statistics institute.

Market expansion was the largest in Nariño where cement dispatches rose by 91.4 per cent YoY, with Caldas and Boyacá also noting considerable increases of 57.6 to 49.9 per cent, respectively. Bogotá’s market saw a 10 per cent expansion while in Antioquia dispatches were 19.7 per cent higher.

Output rose 18 per cent YoY from 0.913Mt in July 2016 to 1.077 one year later.

For the first seven months, national dispatches slipped 0.7 per cent from 6.978Mt in January-July 2016 to 6.929Mt in 7M17. Output followed a similar trend, falling from 7.157Mt in 7M16 to 7.102Mt one year later.