Morocco’s cement demand stable in November

Deliveries by members of Morocco’s cement association APC (Asment Temara, Ciments de l’Atlas, Ciments du Maroc and LafargeHolcim Maroc) have remained stable in November 2023, up 0.2 per cent YoY to reach 1,114,178t from 1,112,013t in November 2022, according to the Ministry of National Territory Planning, Land Planning, Housing and City Policy.

However, the large retail sector saw a 5.2 per cent YoY drop to 652,379t in November 2023 from 688,3332t as did the building segment which reported a 25.4 per cent fall in sales to 35,741t from 47,930t over the same period. The ready-mix concrete segment increased its off take by 7.1 per cent to 238,841t in November 2023 from 222,947t in November 2022. Demand from the prefabricated market saw 15.7 per cent advance to 112,171t in November 2023 when compared with the year-ago period, when 96,929t was sold. Infrastructure required 75,406t of cement in November 2023, up 34.3 per cent YoY from 55,876t.

January-November 2023
In the first 11 months of 2023 total cement deliveries by APC members slipped 1.4 per cent YoY to 11.389Mt from 11.544Mt in the 11M22.

The infrastructure market recorded the largest growth, up 22.3 per cent YoY to 665,072t in the 11M23 from 544,014t in the year-ago period. A smaller, but significant gain was made in the prefabricated segment which increased its off take by five per cent YoY to 1.11Mt from 1.057Mt over the same period. The ready-mix concrete market remained stable, reporting a 0.6 per cent uptick to 2.294Mta in the January-November 2023 period from 2.281Mt in the year-ago period. However, deliveries to the retail sector slipped by 3.7 per cent to 6.901Mt in the 11M23 from 7.166Mt in the 11M22 while those to the building sector saw a 15.7 per cent drop to 418,703t from 496,618 over the same period.