Cement demand in Morocco increased 7.8 per cent YoY to 1,298,479t in July 2018 from 1,204,101t in the previous year, according to data from the country's Ministry of Housing and Urbanisation.

In the largest market, Casablanca-Settat, consumption edged up by 3.8 per cent to 282,680t. Sales in Marrakech-Safi, the second-largest consuming region, rose by 20.9 per cent to 180,131t. Advances were only higher in the much smaller markets of Guelmim (15,403t) and Drâa-Tafilalet 48,933t) where consumption rose by 40.6 and 32.1 per cent, respectively. Tanger-Tétouan, the third-largest market, saw demand increase by 6.6 per cent to 161,638t. Only Béni Mellal-Khénifra (57,896t) and the Dakhla region (8231t) noted a fall in sales by around five and 2.5 per cent, respectively.

Cement consumption in the first seven months of 2018 slipped 1.3 per cent YoY with domestic offtake at 7.875Mt, down from 7.976 in 7M17. Demand in Casablanca-Settat reached 1.692Mt, down 4.7 per cent YoY while in Marrakech-Safi they advanced 12.2 per cent to 1.105Mt. Tanger-Tétouan sales remained largely stable at 1.006Mt.