Unprecedented fall in global cement output

The biggest fall in worldwide cement production in two decades has been recorded, according to the World Cement Association (WCA).

The WCA reports that global cement output fell eight per cent YoY to 1.9bnt in the first six months of 2022. The fall was caused by a 15 per cent drop in output to 977Mt in the volume of cement produced in China, the WCA said.

Ian Riley, WCA chief executive, said the Chinese decline was the biggest in more than 20 years, with no comparable decline in recent memory. “The cement production decline is a sign of the Chinese property markets’ mounting spillover effect on other industries that benefited from the previous construction boom,” reports the Financial Times.

Official data show new construction starts in China have fallen more than 40 per cent year on year every month since April. “[In recent years], we have seen a tremendous construction boom [in China] . . . Cement companies thought they were about to start selling cement to these big infrastructure projects,” said Mr Riley. But then a combination of the real estate crisis and China’s zero COVID policy “really started to impact business”. 

Chinese cement producers will hope that after the Chinese Communist party congress in October, the situation will “ease up”, Mr Riley said.