Buzzi Unicem announced that cement and clinker sales for the group totalled 21.7Mt in the 9M20, down 1.8 per cent compared to the previous year. Ready-mix and concrete sales contracted by 4.9 per cent to 8.7Mm3.
Consolidated net sales stood at EUR2408m, a minor dip of 0.6 per cent on the EUR2423.6m earned in the 9M19. On a like-for-like basis net sales would have slipped 0.3 per cent.
The summer period was characterised by positive developments in Italy, thanks to a better-than-expected rebound after a lockdown at the beginning of spring. However, overall turnover in Italy contracted by four per cent to EUR367.2m in the 9M20. Germany and Russia also recorded favourable volumes. Net sales increased by 5.5 per cent in Germany, reaching EUR539.5m in the 9M20.
Shipments slowed in the USA and eastern Europe, particularly in Poland and Ukraine. US cement sales were hampered by Hurricane Laura, which hit the coast of Louisiana and southeastern Texas, in particular the Houston metropolitan area. Overall net sales reached EUR937.8m in the 9M20, up one per cent on the 9M19.
Brazilian net sales in the 9M20 declined 1.1 per cent YoY to EUR99.7m from EUR100.8m.
"The summer quarter was characterised by a sharp slowdown in infections, especially in Europe, which favored the rebound in industrial activity but did not cancel all the concerns arising from the GDP decline and the increase in unemployment rate in the most affected sectors. The period of coexistence with COVID-19, which we are experiencing and which in these days is again entering a delicate phase, has a lot of unknowns ahead even in the medium term," said the company in its outlook.
