Local cement sales in the Dominican Republic increased 5.1 per cent in the first six months of 2018 to 2,196,282t from 2,089,935t in 6M17, according to the country’s cement association, Adocem. In terms of sales revenues, a 12.9 per cent rise was reported to DOP9.612bn (US$192.176m) from DOP1.096bn.

Output from the country’s cement plants rose by 4.8 per cent to 2,738,284t in 6M18 from 2,612,099t in the equivalent period of the previous year. The production volume reflects a capacity utilisation rate of 79.1 per cent, an improvement of 3.7 percentage points when compared with 6M17.

Around 21.7 per cent of this production volume or 5942t was exported.