Cement sales in Brazil by domestic producers totalled 44.2Mt in the first 10 months of 2018, and were down 1.5 per cent YoY, according to SNIC, the country’s cement association.
Brazil’s apparent consumption of cement (domestic sales + imports) totalled 44.4Mt between January-October 2018, representing a 1.9 per cent YoY decrease.
SNIC President, Paulo Camillo Penna, said that although October sales increased by 5.2 per cent in relation to the same period in 201, this uptick is insufficient to change the state of the sectdor.
"The cement industry is still a reflection of the economic crisis, which was aggravated this year by the truck drivers' strike and the constant mistrust of consumers and investors. Therefore, the recovery movement was not felt in the real economy," he explained.
"Everything indicates that our expectations for 2018 will be maintained, we will close the year with a drop between one and two per cent. However, we already see signs of optimism with the increase of projects and real estate launches in the Brazilian market as a whole, in addition to the natural optimism with the new governments that will start from January next year," he added.
