Spain’s cement demand down 1% in 2022
Spanish cement consumption slipped 0.8 per cent YoY to 14.9Mt in 2022, according to the Spanish cement association, Oficemen.
The annual total has been affected by inclement weather that saw a slowdown in construction in December. In the last month of 2022, cement demand was down by 6.3 per cent YoY.
In addition the Ukraine-Russia war and rising energy prices have further impacted the cement industry.
“Despite the excellent start-up results and the expectation of becoming the year of recovery, finally the chained drops in consumption since May have left us with a flat consumption volume, very similar to that of 2021," Oficemen President, José Manuel Cascajero, pointed out.
Furthermore, the rise in interest rates and housing prices has generated uncertainty in the housing construction sector following a 3.5 per cent increase in new construction approved for November, according to data from the Ministry of Transport. The rolling year has seen 110,000 new homes.
For 2023 Oficemen expects Spain’s market to remain more or less stable or contract mildly by 0.3 per cent, although this depends largely on the implementation of a EU-funded public works.
External trade
Overseas cement sales have fallen 16.8 per cent YoY to 5.6Mt in 2022. Imports are down 5.4 per cent YoY to 1.3Mt.
Oficemen highlighted the high cost of electricity in Spain when compared with other European countries and its impact on the competitive power of the Spanish cement industry. "Since 2019, the cost of electrical energy has multiplied by four and those of thermal energy and CO2 emission allowances have tripled. All this has a great impact on our variable production costs and, as a consequence, on our competitiveness”, said Mr Cascajero. Cement companies have reiterated their request for “a change in the rules of the wholesale electricity market and have auctions of infra-marginal generated energy.”
