Colombian cement market contracts 76% in April

Dispatches of grey cement in Colombia declined 75.6 per cent to 241,900t in April 2020 from 991,100t in April 2019, according to the national statistics office, DANE.

Consumption in some of the country’s key cement markets were particularly hit. Sales in Antioquia were down 13.3 per cent, followed by Bogotá (-9.8 per cent), Cundinamarca (-6.8 per cent) and Valle del Cauca (-6.5 per cent)

Deliveries to the retail sector fell by 64.5 per cent, while ready-mix concrete companies reduced their offtake by 94.5 per cent YoY in April 2020. These trends are further supported by a reduction of 91 per cent YoY in bulk shipments and a 68.8 per cent drop in bagged cement deliveries.

Cement production plummeted to 198,900t in April 2020, down 79.5 per cent from 971,000t in April 2019.

January-April 2020
In the first four months of 2020, domestic dispatches fell 23.4 per cent to 3.001Mt when compared with deliveries of 3.917Mt in the year-ago period. The drop has been attributed by DANE to a contraction in sales to the retail sector (-20.7 per cent) and the ready-mix concrete companies (-32.8 per cent).

Dispatches in Bogotá and Antioquia saw a decrease of 3.8 and 3.3 per cent, respectively, while sales in Cundinamarca noted a 2.5 per cent drop YoY in the 4M20. Valle del Cauca and Bolivar saw a market contraction of 2.2 and two per cent, respectively. Atlántico reported a 1.5 per cent drop in dispatches while offtake in Meta was down one per cent. Markets in the rest of the country saw deliveries drop by less than one per cent with sales remaining stable in Casanare and edging up 0.2 per cent in Sucre.

Bulk deliveries were down 26.9 per cent YoY while bagged cement dispatches fell by 21.7 per cent YoY in January-April 2020.

Output from Colombia’s cement plants decreased 22.3 per cent YoY to 3.126Mt from 4.024Mt in the 4M19.