Cement sales in Brazil drop 7% in February

Brazil’s cement association, SNIC, reported that cement sales in the domestic market declined by 7.2 per cent YoY to 4.42Mt in February 2023 from 4.763Mt. SNIC attributes the contraction to Brazil’s economic scenario with high household debt, high interest rates and inflation as well as above-average rainfall. Consumer confidence showed a second-consecutive month’s drop. Industry confidence was negatively affected by a slowdown in demand and high input costs.

The decline was the largest in the northeast market, Brazil’s second-largest, as sales fell by 14.2 per cent to 879,000t in February 2023 from 1.025Mt in February 2022. The country’s smallest market, northern Brazil, reported a 12.4 per cent YoY drop from 210,000t in February 2022 to 184,000t in February 2023. In the south, dispatches were down 8.4 per cent YoY to 799,000t from 872,000t in February 2022 while in the southeast the drop was 4.5 per cent YoY to 2.051Mt from 2.147Mt in February 2022. The central-west region the decrease was marginal at -0.4 per cent to 507,000t in February 2023 from 507,000t in February 2022.

Exports from Brazil were down 58.3 per cent YoY to 20,000t in February 2023 from 48,000t in the year-ago period.

January-February 2023
In the first two months of 2023 the Brazilian cement market saw a 0.4 per cent decline in sales to 9.249Mt from 9.283Mt in January-February 2022. The decrease was the largest in the south as dispatches fell by 2.5 per cent YoY to 1.662Mt from 1.704Mt, followed by the northeast, where sales slipped by 0.9 per cent YoY to 1.958Mt from 1.975Mt. In the southeast sales remained stable at 4.173Mt. The northern market expanded by 1.7 per cent YoY to 415,000t from 408,000t while the central-western market saw a 1.8 per cent increase in sales to 1.041Mt from 1.023Mt.

Exports dropped by 52.7 per cent YoY to 44,000t in the 2M23 from 93,000t in the 2M22.

Outlook
“The month of February marks the return of the Minha Casa, Minha Vida programme. Even in the face of an unfavourable economic scenario, the cement industry sees a more optimistic horizon with the resumption of investments in housing programmes, as they expand the possibilities of using the product in construction systems, such as concrete walls. The Brazilian housing deficit is around 6m units and its reduction requires a robust government programme.” said Paulo Camillo Penna, president of SNIC