Cement sales in Brazil slipped 0.9 per cent YoY to 4.5Mt in January 2020, according to the country’s cement association, SNIC. Apparent cement consumption, which includes imports and domestic sales, totalled 4.5Mt, representing a 1.3 per cent decline when compared with January 2019.

SNIC attributes the marginal drop to poor performance in the north, where sales contracted 4.8 per cent YoY, and the south, which saw a 3.2 per cent fall. In both cases, it blamed the heavy rains that hit the regions in the first month of the year.

However, SNIC maintains its three per cent growth forecast for 2020. “The sector's performance will continue to be basically supported by the building sector. The result of the improvement in the real estate market last year should continue this year, thus leveraging cement sales. The great expectations are due to the announcement by Caixa Econômica Federal about the new residential credit line without correction and the reformulation of the Minha Casa Minha Vida Programme that should gain momentum ”explains Paulo Camillo Penna, president of SNIC.

The infrastructure sector, which has significantly reduced its participation in cement consumption since 2015, should be the object of immediate government concern, says the organisation. “The concessions and privatisation programme must be accelerated and the paralysed works must be resumed urgently”, concludes Paulo Camillo.