Cement consumption in Spain up 8% in 1Q21

Spanish cement demand advanced 8.4 per cent YoY in the first quarter of 2021, reaching 3,378,281t, reports Oficemen, the country’s cement association. The hike reflects the low based of demand in the 1Q20 as the country entered lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“You have to look very cautiously at the percentage data for March, which show a growth of 52.6 per cent when compared to the start of the pandemic, when the stoppage of many of the works weighed down consumption by about 30 per cent. In absolute values, the month of March 2021 has had a cement consumption in our country of 1,407,082t, a figure that exceeds by 9.3 per cent that of March 2019, whose data prior to the pandemic give a more realistic image for the comparison, ” said Oficemen President, Víctor García Brosa.

If the 1Q21 consumption is compared with consumption in the 1Q19, a drop of nearly six per cent is noted.

Exports increased 17.5 per cent YoY to 664,776t in March 2021, however, when considering the export data for the rolling year, growth moderates to 6.2 per cent and obscures fragile growth as different markets opened and closed due to the development of the pandemic in each country.