Colombian cement producers dispatched 990,012t of cement in July 2018, representing a 4.9 per cent YoY fall, according to the latest data from the country’s statistics office, DANE.

Of this total, around 524,903t was delivered to the retail segment, which represented a 13.1 per cent drop when compared with July 2017 with a further 233,391t off-take by the ready-mix concrete companies, which represented a 6.8 per cent rise in sales to the segment. Contractors and builders bought 182,283t, or 13.1 per cent less than in July 2017.

Bogotá saw a seven per cent contraction in demand YoY to 50,563t while sales in the key markets of Cundinamarca and Valle del Cauca decreased by 8.8 per cent to 45,101t and by eight per cent to 69,739t, respectively. In Huila, dispatches decreased by 23.6 per cent YoY to 16,681t, a drop only to be surpassed by Casanare where deliveries fell by 25.7 per cent to 5493t. The small Cesar market saw its sales advance by 11.7 per cent while other small markets such as Magdalena and Córdoba noted an increase in uptake of six and 3.6 per cent, respectively.

Output in July reached 1,021,108t, down 5.2 per cent when compared with July 2017.

In the January-July period total deliveries slipped by 1.9 per cent to 6.797Mt from 6.928Mt in the previous year. Production from Colombian cement plants fell by 1.8 per cent to 6.983Mt in the first seven months of 2018 when compared with 7.111Mt in 7M17.

In terms of regional off take, Bogotá’s cement market contracted by 9.5 per cent in 7M18 when compared with 7M17, with Cundinamarca and Santander witnessing a drop of 7.4 and 9.3 per cent, respectively. The largest decrease was noted in Casanare, at 18.4 per cent. Cesar and Norte de Santander saw demand grow by some 16 per cent.