Spanish cement demand falls 5% in August

Cement consumption in Spain declined 5.1 per cent YoY in August 2020, following a 3.4 per cent drop in July, according to the country’s cement association, Oficemen. Exports have expanded, with a growth of 11-14 per cent in July and August.

“The moderation of the falls in July and August makes sense if we remember that these are data that are compared with those of the second half of 2019, when cement consumption returned to the red for several months, finally closing the calculation from July to December in a 0.2 per cent drop,” said Oficemen President, Victor García Brosa.

In the first eight months of 2020, demand for cement in the Iberian country has fallen by 13.4 per cent to 8,627,274t. In addition, despite recent growth, exports have fallen by 7.4 per cent YoY in the 8M20.

“In our previous meeting with the media, in January of this year, we already forecast an unflattering scenario, with a slowdown in construction, which predicted a two per cent growth in cement consumption. We obviously did not contemplate the situation of a supervening pandemic that would weigh down the expectations of all economic sectors worldwide. The current forecasts of our research department aim to close the 2020 financial year with a fall of between 10-12 per cent,” Mr García Brosa added.

"For 2021 it is difficult to venture a forecast, given the rapidly changing health and economic scenario in which we live. The increase in the deficit and public debt, and the fact that resources from the EU, which can be used for public investment, will not begin to appreciate significantly until 2022, add to the fact that, for another two years the level of housing visas that existed in 2019 is not expected to recover, and lead us to foresee an evolution in the consumption of cement from a fall of -5 per cent to a growth of one per cent,” Mr García Brosa said. "2021 will not be the year of recovery,” he concluded.