Colombian cement market expands 5% in October

Cement dispatches in Colombia increased 5.2 per cent YoY to 1.169Mt in October 2020 when compared with 1.111Mt delivered in October 2019, according to the national statistics agency, DANE.

The rise was supported by an increase in the retail segment, where dispatches were up by 10.6 per cent YoY. Building companies and contractors increased their offtake by 4.2 per cent when compared with October 2019. However, deliveries to the ready-mix concrete segment dropped nine per cent YoY. 

The markets of Nariño and Norte de Santander saw the largest YoY uptick, by 26 and 23.6 per cent, respectively. A significant improvement in sales was also noted in Boyacá (+13.9 per cent), Huila (+12.8 per cent) and Bolivar (+12.4 per cent). Valle del Cauca saw an 11.3 per cent increase in sales while Atlántico and Caldas reported a rise of 10.7 and 10.6 per cent, respectively. The key market of Antioquia expanded by 6.5 per cent while in Santander sales edged up 0.9 per cent. However, in Bogotá sales were down 3.6 per cent and in Cundinamarca the market contracted 7.8 per cent. Meta reported the largest decline at 10 per cent YoY.

Output from domestic cement plants advanced 4.8 per cent to 1.190Mt in October when compared with 1.136Mt when compared with the year-ago period.

January-October 2020
In the January-October 2020 period, sales of cement in Colombia declined 12.5 per cent YoY to 9.058Mt from 10.353Mt in the 10M19. The drop is mainly due to a 25.5 per cent YoY fall in deliveries to the ready-mix concrete segment and a 7.3 per cent decrease in the retail segment.

Output fell 11.7 per cent to 9.458Mt in the 10-month period from 10.709Mt in the first 10 months of 2019.