Colombian cement dispatches fall to 12.9Mt in 2023

Cement dispatches in Colombia slipped by 2.6 per cent to 1.093Mt in December 2023 from 1.122Mt in December 2022, according to the country’s statistics agency, DANE. Of this total, bulk deliveries declined by 5.2 per cent while bagged cement dispatches were down 1.4 per cent.

While retail sales increased 2.5 per cent YoY in December 2023, ready-mix concrete companies and the construction and contractor segment reduced their off take by eight and 11.9 per cent, respectively.

Output from domestic cement plants edged up by 0.6 per cent YoY to 1.291Mt in December 2023 from 1.283Mt.

January-December 2023
In the January-December 2023 period, Colombian cement dispatches declined by 4.5 per cent YoY to 12.893Mt from 13.505Mt. Bagged cement saw a 5.2 per cent drop in deliveries in 2023 when compared with the year-ago period while bulk dispatches were down 3.2 per cent YoY.

In 2023 the market contracted across the board with sales to the ready-mix concrete segment slipping 0.2 per cent YoY and the retail sector seeing 3.3 per cent reduction in off-take. Dispatches to construction companies and contractors were down 14.2 per cent YoY.

Antioquía reported the largest drop in sales by 1.3 per cent YoY in 2023, closely followed by Valle del Cauca, where the market contracted by 1.1 per cent YoY in 2023. Dispatches to Nariño and Bolivar were down by 0.6 and 0.4 per cent YoY, respectively, while those to Caldas and Norte de Santander declined by 0.3 per cent. Huila and Colima saw a 0.2 per cent decline in dispatches, while Santander, Magdalena, Cesar, Quindío and Meta saw dispatches slip by 0.1 per cent. Dispatches in Atlántico and Cundinamarca remained stable. Dispatches in Casanare, Boyacá and Sucre rose by 0.1 per cent while in Bogotá deliveries increased by 0.2 per cent in 2023.