Swiss cement deliveries down 5% in 2019

Deliveries by the Swiss cement industry fell by 4.9 per cent YoY to 1,034,914t in the fourth quarter of 2019 from 1,088,196t in the 4Q18. The latest figures published by Cemsuisse show a softening cement market after a promising first quarter with 4.8 per cent growth. In the 2Q19 and the 3Q19 the market contracted by -0.2 and 1.5 per cent, respectively.

For the full-year 2019 cement demand fell 1.7 per cent to 4,214,785t from 4,289,401t in 2018.

Cemsuisse also reported that despite rail freight issues, the share of cement transported by rail increased slightly with 51.9 per cent of deliveries carried out by rail.

Ready-mix concrete plants bought 75 per cent of cement while a further 17.9 per cent was sold to large construction sites.