Brazilian cement demand reached 3.872Mt in February 2018, down 0.8 per cent from 3.902Mt reported in the year-ago period, according to the latest data from the country's cement association, SNIC.

Sales in the northern region dropped by 16.9 per cent YoY to 0.167Mt from 0.167Mt, the largest regional contraction in the country in February 2018. The northeast and southeast saw demand decrease by 5.1 and 0.5 per cent, respectively, when compared with February 2017. This resulted in a demand of 0.798Mt in the northeast and 1.843Mt in the southeast. In both the central-west and southern part of the country, markets expanded by 5.6 per cent YoY to 0.841Mt and 0.682Mt, respectively.

For the first two months of 2018, domestic sales reached 8.197Mt, largely stable when compared with 8.228Mt sold in 2M17. In the southeast, the largest regional market, sales edged up by three per cent YoY to 3.904Mt but in the northeast, the second-largest province in terms of cement demand, offtake fell by seven per cent YoY to 1.755Mt. Sales in the south remained almost level at 1.348Mt. In the central-eastern part of the country consumption rose by 3.6 per cent YoY to 0.813Mt but in the north it saw a 11.7 per cent drop to 0.377Mt.

Exports remained level at 3000t in February 2018 when compared with February 2017, but fell from 10,000t to 9000t in the first two months of the year, down 10 per cent YoY.