Spain's cement demand edged up 3% in October

Cement consumption in Spain increased by three per cent to 1.3Mt in October when compared with October 2018. The rise has been attributed to an increase in housing construction.

In the first 10 months of the year demand increased by eight per cent. However, the Spanish cement association, Oficemen, said that this represents a smaller advance than the 11.5 per cent noted in the first half of the year.

Exports in the 10M19 have fallen 16.8 per cent YoY to 603,190t, or the equivalent of “almost four months of production in one of Spain’s cement plants”, according Oficemen President, Víctor García Brosa. “It is a luxury the cement industry cannot afford,” he said. He lamented the uneven playing field whereby Spanish cement plants are taking action to reduce GHG emissions while cement works in other countries have shown very in terms of participation to such programmes.