Spain’s cement demand edges down in February

Cement demand in Spain slipped 0.5 per cent YoY to 1,171,084t in February 2020, according to Oficemen, the country’s cement association.

In the first two months of 2020, cement consumption declined by 4.5 per cent to 2,206,568t. However, rolling-year data show a growth of 3.9 per cent between March 2019-February 2020. In the 12 months to the end of February 2020 demand for ceemnt reached 14,312,443t.

External trade
Exports decreased a further 31.4 per cent to less than 460,000t shipped in February, adding to the 33-month period of decline to date.

In January-February 2020 the drop is almost 20 per cent while between March 2019-February 2020 the decrease accelerated to 24.2 per cent, with a loss of nearly 2Mt of exports.

Despite a drop in February, imports have increased in the last 12 months ended February 2020. They reached close to 1Mt, twice the volume of the previous year.

Coronavirus
“Although we must remember that these figures refer to February, the period prior to the COVID-19 crisis; in the short term we foresee a sharp drop in production ”, said the president of Oficemen, Víctor García Brosa.

Mr García Brosa also highlighted the directive of the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism that "the traffic of trucks of aggregates, cement and concrete is allowed , since the works to which these materials are transported and the transport to guarantee the supply have not been prohibited. The closure of the works is not mandatory, as this activity has not been expressly suspended.”

In terms of Spanish cement plants, he said: “The Spanish cement factories, for the moment, continue to work with the normality allowed by the State of Alert. The safety and health of workers is a priority for cement companies, activating protocols that guarantee safe working conditions for factory workers and teleworking modalities for a large part of general service employees.”

"From Oficemen we want to convey the sentiment of the cement industry to support all those affected by the pandemic and our intention to contribute in the best possible way to the social and economic reconstruction of the country," adds the President of Oficemen.