Colombia sees 3.6% market expansion

Cement consumption in Colombia increased 3.6 per cent from 993,700t in October 2016 to 1,029,400t in October 2017, according the country’s statistics office, DANE.

The rise has been attributed to increased retail sales (+5.4 per cent) and off-take by construction companies and contractors (+5.6 per cent). Sales to concrete companies slipped by 4.1 per cent.

In terms of departmental sales, Antioquia saw its demand rise 14.6 per cent YoY, but sales in the Bogotá area fell by 4.4 per cent and Córdoba saw demand drop by 26.7 per cent.

Bagged cement accounted for 68.4 per cent of sales, slightly up from 65.7 per cent reported in October 2016.

Output from domestic cement plants edged up 0.6 per cent to 1,082,300t from 1,076,100t in the year-ago period.

In the first 10 months of the year, dispatches to the domestic market slipped 0.6 per cent YoY to 10.014Mt from 10.077Mt in 10M16. The fall has been attributed to lower off-take by concrete producers (-5.5 per cent). Retail sales increased 1.8 per cent YoY.

While the market of Antioquia saw sales rise by 6.8 per cent, at the other end of spectrum, Casanare recorded a 30.1 per cent drop in consumption.

Colombian cement producers manufactured 10.254Mt in the January-October 2017 period, 1.3 per cent down YoY from 10.388Mt.