Spain's September demand advances but exports drop

Cement demand in Spain has declined by 11.6 per cent YoY to 9.858Mt at the end of the 3Q20, according to Oficemen, the country’s cement association.

In September cement consumption edged up by 0.9 percent YoY to 1.246Mt. However, Oficemen President, Víctor García Brosa, warned against an overly optimistic outlook. “This slight positive value does not change the strongly negative trend of the year, and that, as we have already indicated, will probably cause us to close the 2020 financial year with a fall of 11 per cent, placing it at 13.1Mt, compared to 14.7Mt  of the year 2019 ", said the president of Oficemen, Víctor García Brosa.

Drop in exports
September also saw an end to export growth experienced in July and August as export volumes fell 16.5 per cent YoY. In the January-September 2020 period exports have decreased by more than eight per cent YoY, resulting in a total drop of 0.4Mt when compared with the 3Q19.

“The negative evolution of exports and the 21 per cent rise in imports in September, places our trade balance in a more than worrying situation. The high energy cost and CO2 emissions of our industry compared to other countries, continues to undermine our competitiveness. Especially with regard to carbon emissions, we consider it urgent to implement border adjustment measures from the European Union. It is of little use to establish a system to reduce CO2 emissions in Europe, if the importation of products is allowed without the associated cost of carbon, either cement or clinker, from other geographical areas with more lax environmental legislation,” added Víctor García Brosa.