Cement consumption in Bolivia dropped 12.6 per cent YoY to 337,063t in September 2020 from 385,624t in September 2019, according to the country’s statistics office, INE.

Demand in the key market of Santa Cruz declined five per cent YoY to 85,812t in September 2020 while in La Paz, the country’s second-largest market, advanced by 3.7 per cent YoY to 72,034t.  Chuquisaca’s market contracted by 21.3 per cent YoY to 61,899t while demand in Cochabamba slipped 1.4 per cent to 57,821t. In Oruro demand was down 41.3 per cent YoY to 37,329t. Bolivia’s smallest cement market, Tarija saw a 11.2 per cent decrease in consumption to 22,168t when compared with September 2019.

January-September 2020
In the first nine months of 2020 the Bolivian cement market contracted by 33 per cent YoY to 1.977Mt from 2.952Mt in the 9M19.

Demand in Santa Cruz saw a 33.2 per cent decrease in January-September 2020 to 0.527Mt from 0.788Mt in the 9M19 but it was demand in Chuquisaca, where the fall in demand was the largest – 48.7 per cent to 0.341Mt. In Tarija the offtake declined 35.3 per cent to 0.125Mt, followed by Oruro, where demand fell 27.9 per cent to 0.253Mt. In La Paz cement consumption declined 25.3 per cent YoY to 0.407Mt in the 9M20. The Cochabamba market contracted by 20.8 per cent YoY to 0.326Mt in January-September 2020.