Colombia's cement market contracts 10% in March

Cement deliveries in the Colombian cement market fell 9.9 per cent YoY to 976,300t in March, according to the country’s national statistics office, DANE. Around 68 per cent, or 668,700t of this total was supplied as bagged cement with a further 307,600t as bulk product.

Deliveries to the country’s largest market, Bogotá, declined by 9.9 per cent while the key markets of Antioquia and Cundinamarca also reported significant decreases of 10.4 and 17 per cent, respectively. Further drops were also reported in Atlántico (-13.8 per cent), Santander (-16.2 per cent) and Córdoba (-28.5 per cent). Smaller markets such as Norte de Santander and Caldas saw deliveries increase by 12 and 10.5 per cent, respectively.

Output from domestic cement plants decreased by 3.4 per cent to 1,061,700t in the third month of 2018 when compared with 1,098,800t.

In the January-March period around 2.843Mt of cement was dispatched to the domestic market. In Bogotá deliveries fell by 14.3 per cent YoY with Cundimarca and Santander noting similar declines of 11.5 and 15.1 per cent, respectively. In Antioquia the market contracted by 5.1 per cent. The largest decrease was seen in Córdoba, which saw its deliveries fall by 28.8 per cent. The country’s smallest market, Norte de Santander, expanded by 26.3 per cent. Other markets to note increases in dispatches were Valle del Cauca (+4.2 per cent), Cesar (+13.8 per cent), Magdalena (+4.9 per cent), Caldas (+5 per cent), Nariño (+4.3 per cent), Meta (+2.3 per cent) and Risaralda (+3 per cent).