Brazilian sales up 9% in October

Cement sales in Brazil totalled 5.2Mt in October 2019, representing a 9.2 per cent increase when compared with October 2018, according to the country’s cement association, SNIC. The rise follows four consecutive years of decline. Domestic sales per working day edged up 0.6 per cent MoM and 6.9 per cent YoY. Apparent consumption, which includes imports, reached 5.2Mt, up 8.8 per cent YoY.

“Sales performance in 2019 is the beginning of recovery from the huge fall the industry has suffered in the last four years, when we lost 27 per cent [of sales]. During this period, the sector was close to 50 per cent of its idle capacity, closing more than 20 factories,” says SNIC President, Paulo Camillo Penna.

“Positive signs are beginning to appear for construction, more concentrated in the Southeast and Midwest, mainly from the real estate sector. For a more robust and sustainable growth, it is necessary to reverse the continuous decline in investment in infrastructure, whose participation in cement sales has already corresponded to 25 per cent and, today, represents less than 10 per cent, besides the movement in the housing sector is repeated in commercial and industrial real estate,” he added.

Exports rose 57.1 per cent from 7000t in October 2018 to 11,000t in October 2019.

January-October 2019
Cumulative sales between January and October advanced 3.6 per cent YoY to 45.8Mt while for the year to date apparent consumption they increased 3.4 per cent.