Colombian cement demand up 2% in February

Colombia's cement market expanded by 2.1 per cent YoY in February 2019 as cement producers supplied 0.981Mt of cement, according to DANE, the country's statistics office. Cement production increased 3.1 per cent to 0.985Mt in February 2019.

January-February 2019
In the first two months of 2019 domestic dispatches advanced 1.6 per cent YoY to 1.899Mt while output was up 2.7 per cent to 1.913Mt when compared with the previous year's equivalent period.

The rise in domestic sales was driven by ready-mix companies, whose offtake increased by 7.7 per cent YoY. Sales in the retail sector were up 1.1 per cent but demand from construction companies and contractors slipped by 2.2 per cent.

In terms of departments, Bolívar saw the highest increase at 25 per cent when compared with 2M18, followed by Meta (+18.3 per cent), Atlántico (+14.4 per cent) and Antioquia (+3.3 per cent).