Colombian cement demand up 5% in October

The Colombian cement market expanded by 5.2 per cent to 1.083Mt  in October 2018 when compared with 0.949Mt in October 2017, according to the country’s statistics office, DANE.

The markets of Meta and Bolívar registered the largest increases at 26 and 19.4 per cent, respectively, but significant gains were also made in the key markets of Cundinamarca (+7.6 per cent), Antioquia (+5.6 per cent) and Bogotá (+5.4 per cent).

Domestic cement production in October rose by 2.4 per cent YoY to 1.107Mt.

January-October 2018
In the January-October 2018 period, cement demand in the Latin American country slipped 0.4 per cent YoY to 9.972Mt from 10.014Mt in the 10M17.

The dip in sales can be largely explained by a 6.1 per cent decrease in off-take in Bogotá, which the 5.3 per cent rise in Valle del Cauca was unable to offset.

Production remained roughly stable at 10.25Mt in the first 10 months of 2018 when compared with 10.269Mt in the year-ago period.