Bolivian cement market expands 1% in October

Cement consumption in Bolivia edged up 0.8 per cent YoY to 382,944t in October 2020 from 379,781t in October 2019, according to Bolivia’s national statistics agency, INE. In the country’s largest market, La Paz, demand rose 12.1 per cent YoY to 101,185t while in Cochabamba, offtake was 2.9 per cent up YoY to 97,911t. Santa Cruz, the third-largest market, saw a 16.8 per cent YoY increase to 89,955t. Cement demand in Potosi advanced 1.7 per cent to 15,888t when compared with October 2019, but in Tarija it declined 3.2 per cent to 19,808t. A 27 per cent market expansion was noted in Beni to 6701t. In Pando, the country’s smallest market a 96.6 per cent YoY drop to 667t was reported.

Domestic cement production slipped by 2.9 per cent to 390,321t in October 2020 from 379,372t.

January-October 2020
In the first 10 months of 2020 demand in the Bolivian market fell 29.2 per cent to 2.36Mt from 3.33Mt in the year-ago period. Cement consumption in La Paz dropped 17.7 per cent YoY to 597,290t while in Cochabamba a 24.6 per cent decline to 627,116t was reported. Deliveries in Santa Cruz decreased by 33.5 per cent YoY to 601,393t. Offtake in Tarija saw a 38.4 per cent drop to 123,742t while in Potosi demand was down 28.5 per cent YoY to 98,120t. The largest market contraction in key markets was noted in Oruro, where consumption decreased 46.8 per cent to 87,575t. The smallest markets of Beni and Pando reported deliveries of 38,616t (-25.2 per cent) and 5017t (-90.9 per cent), respectively.

Output from domestic cement plants in the January-October 2020 period reached 2.523t, down 24.1 per cent YoY. In the equivalent period of 2019, production reached 3.324t.