Brazil's cement demand rises 3% in May

The Brazilian cement market expanded by three per cent YoY to 4.761Mt in May 2020, according to the country’s cement association, SNIC. Between January-May, dispatches slipped 0.3 per cent YoY to 21,683Mt.

The volume of sales per working day was 211,600t, up 9.7 per cent when compared with May 2019 and by 13.7 per cent when compared with April 2019. In the 5M20, sales per working day edged up 0.9 per cent YoY.

While building material stores fell sharply in March, they have since recovered to pre-COVID-19 levels in May as the self-construction sector was boosted by people remaining at home due to the pandemic and in some cases, used savings to fund small building works and renovations.

Moreover, although the start of the year saw rainy weather, April and May were exceptionally dry, supporting construction.

“The results are surprising so far, but not at all illusory in the long run, as pointed out by the significant drop in the GDP of Civil Construction in the first quarter, 2.4 per cent, released by IBGE. Most of the sales are being sustained by the residential real estate market and this imposes caution in the sector for the future. We need to diversify the source of consumption, mainly with the resumption of infrastructure works. Only in this way will we be able to unlock low demand and reduce losses in recent years,” said SNIC President, Paulo Camillo Penna.

Exports
Exports advanced from 9000t in May 2019 to 15,000t in May 2020, representing an increase of 66.7 per cent YoY. In the first five months of 2020, exports grew by 35.6 per cent YoY from 45,000t in the 5M19 to 61,000t in the 5M20.