Swiss cement market contracts 10% in 2023

Cement deliveries in Switzerland, including Liechtenstein, fell by 10 per cent to 875,146t in the 4Q23 from 971,994t in the equivalent period of the previous year, reports cemsuisse, the Swiss cement association. The final quarter of 2023 closed a year of uncertainty for the Swiss construction industry, which found planning construction projects challenging in view of unstable interest and inflation rates. In addition, the supply chains for energy and internationally-sourced materials remained unclear.

Deliveries in 2023
In 2023 Swiss cement deliveries declined by 10 per cent to 3,729,872t when compared with 2022, when the country's cement plants dispatched 4,146,102t of cement.

Of this total, 72.6 per cent was delivered to ready-mix concrete companies, the largest market segment. This was followed by 21.1 per cent of deliveries supplied to construction companies and 4.5 per cent to concrete products. Wholesale and retail accounted for 1.8 per cent of total deliveries.

Lower-carbon cements, characterised by a lower clinker content and lower CO₂ emissions, increased to 95.9 per cent in 2023. A total of 3,611,414t, or 96.8 per cent of total deliveries, was supplied as bulk cement and 118,458t, or 3.2 per cent, as bagged cement in 2023. Road transport was the main mode of transportation, accounting for 2,326,409t, or 62.4 per cent of cement deliveries, but 1,403,462t, or 37.6 per cent was sent by rail.