Colombian cement market expands 11% in December

Colombian grey cement dispatches advanced 10.9 per cent to 1.079Mt in December 2019 from 0.973Mt a year earlier, according to the country’s statistics office, DANE.

Output of grey cement in domestic plants increased 9.3 per cent YoY to 1.191Mt in December 2019 from 1.089Mt.

Full-year 2019
In the January-December 2019 period domestic dispatches of grey cement rose by 4.2 per cent YoY to 12.515Mt, from 12.010Mt in 2018. Growth was particularly strong at retail level and in the ready-mix companies segment, which each saw off-take expand by 4.4 per cent. Purchases by construction companies were up by 1.2 per cent. 

In terms of regions, Cesanare led sales growth by 35 per cent, followed by Sucre (+13.6 per cent) and Arauca (+12.9 per cent), while Santander and Meta saw a market expansion of around 10 per cent each. In the key market of Bogotá sales edged up by 1.1 per cent. Antioquia reported an 8.1 per cent rise in off-take, but in Cundinamarca sales slipped by 0.6 per cent. Meanwhile, Atlántico posted a decline of 6.8 per cent. However, the largest market contraction took place in Magdalena and Quindio were dispatches fell by 11-12 per cent YoY.

Grey cement production increased to 12.995Mt in 2019, up 4.3 per cent when compared with 12.46Mt in 2018.