Moroccan market sees 10% YoY contraction in August

Moroccan cement consumption decreased by 10.3 per cent YoY to 1,227,932t in August 2017 from 1,368,884t in the year-ago period, according to the country’s Ministry of Housing and Urbanisation.

The largest above-average market contractions were noted in Drâa-Tafilalet, where consumption plummeted 26.3 per cent to 35,736t, and Oriental, which saw demand fall by 20.7 per cent to 97,781t. The largest regional market Casablanca-Settat also saw a significant downturn as sales fell some 12 per cent YoY from 329,491t to 290,101t while Tanger-Tétouan-Al Houceim noted a nine per cent drop to 157,793t and Marrakech-Safi a five per cent contraction to 156,375t. However, sales in the Rabat-Salé-Kénitra area, the second-largest market in the country, advanced 5.3 per cent to 179,130t.

For the year to date, domestic cement demand slipped 4.9 per cent from 9,676,372t in 8M16 to 9,203,715t in 8M17. The markets of Oriental and Béni Mellal-Khénifra noted the largest decreases in sales - both at around 11 per cent with volumes at 931,372t in Oriental and 516,611t in Béni Mellal-Khénifra. The largest advance was reported in Guelmim-Oued Noun, where sales rose 31 per cent from 84,217t to 852,003t in the period. In Morocco’s largest regional market, Casablanca-Settat, the offtake fell 6.4 per cent to 2,065,664t while in Rabat-Salé-Kénitra demand edged up one per cent to 1,221,317t. Marrakech-Safi saw an 8.6 per cent decline to 1,141,087t while in Tanger-Tétouan-Al Houceim sales fell 7.5 per cent to 1,166,547t.