Colombia's cement market contracts 1% in October

Cement dispatches in Colombia slipped 0.8 per cent YoY to 1.114Mt in October 2023 from 1.123Mt in October 2022, reported the country's statistics office, DANE.

Of the total October 2023 dispatches, deliveries to construction companies and contractors were down seven per cent YoY, while ready-mix concrete companies reduced their off-take by 3.9 per cent. However, sales to the retail segment picked up by 2.6 per cent YoY. This was also reflected in a 0.6 per cent uptick in bagged sales while bulk sales were down 3.7 per cent YoY in October 2023.

In terms of the country's provinces, Sucre saw an 11.2 per cent increase in dispatches, followed by Meta (+8.7 per cent), Cundinamarca (+4.3 per cent) and Bogotá (+4 per cent). However, Nariño reported the largest drop in dispatches at 22.7, followed by Quindío (-20.7 per cent), Valle del Cauca (-10.1 per cent) and Norte de Santander (-9 per cent). Other provinces saw more muted variations in dispatches, ranging from -4.9 to +3.8 per cent.

Output from domestic cement plants declined one per cent YoY to 1.262Mt in October 2023 from 1.249Mt in October 2022.

January-October 2023
In the January-October 2023 period domestic dispatches saw a five per cent YoY drop to 10.697Mt from 11.265Mt in the 10M22. Bagged sales saw a six per cent fall while bulk sales were down three per cent YoY in October 2023.

Sales to construction companies and contractors declined by 15.2 per cent, but the off-take by ready-mix concrete companies saw a one per cent increase YoY in October 2023. Sales to the retail market fell by 4.5 per cent YoY in the same period.

Cement production was down 2.7 per cent YoY to 11.808Mt in the 10M23 from 12.135Mt in the 10M22.