Peru's cement market ends year on positive note

December 2017 was a positive month for Peru's cement production and dispatches, although volumes remained insufficient to reverse the accumulated fall in 2017, according to the country’s cement association, Asocem.

In December 2017 the Peruvian cement market expanded 6.3 per cent YoY and 3.8 per cent MoM to 936,000t when compared with 881,000t in December 2016 and 902,000t in November 2017.
Deliveries from Peru’s producers slipped 0.7 per cent MoM to 845,000t from 851,000t in November 2016, but increased 1.1 per cent YoY from 836,000t in December 2016.

Local supply was increasingly supplemented by imports, which reached 92,000t, up 79.9 per cent when compared with 51,000t of cement imported in November and more than doubling when taking 45,000t of imports in December 2016 into account.

Exports of cement fell by 3.5 per cent MoM to 31,000t from 33,000t in November 2016 but increased by 10.7 per cent when compared with an export volume of 28,000t reported in December 2016.

Data for full-year 2017
In terms of full-year 2017 volumes, Peru’s cement consumption edged up 0.2 per cent YoY from 10.152Mt in 2016 to 101.168Mt in 2017.

However, domestic deliveries slipped 0.9 per cent YoY to 9.554Mt from 9.643Mt in 2016 while cement imports advanced 20.9 per cent from 0.509Mt to 0.615Mt over the period. In addition, Peru imported some 0.525Mt of clinker, representing a decline from 0.565Mt reported in 2016.

Vietnam accounted for around 84 per cent of cement imports, with an additional 12 per cent being shipped from China and some three per cent from Mexico. South Korea was the largest clinker importer with an import share of 82 per cent. Japan and Vietnam imported 17 and one per cent, respectively of total clinker imports.

Cement production decreased 1.1 per cent YoY to 9.98Mt from 10.094Mt with clinker output dropping 1.6 per cent YoY to 7.834Mt from 7.709Mt.

Exports of cement saw an 11 per cent YoY drop to 0.354Mt from 0.398Mt, but clinker exports advanced by 161 per cent from 0.211Mt in 2016 to 0.549Mt in 2017.

Total cement dispatches were down 1.2 per cent YoY to 9.915Mt. The drop has been attributed to the Coastal Niño at the start of the year and low rates of investment.

Asocem also reported that the sector currently has a capacity of 17.54Mta but in view of an annual output of 9.98Mt, the capacity utilisation rate is only 57 per cent.