Italian cement expanding amid strong government spending

Italian cement output continues to expand, rising 10 per cent YoY in February 2024, according to the latest data from Italian concrete association, Federbeton. This follows a 14 per cent expansion in January. 

Import and export data, which lag production data by one month, show grey cement imports jumped 78 per cent YoY to 265,322t in January, with a total CIF value of EUR22.2m or EUR84/t as value per tonne, down from EUR94/t in December 2023. 

Meanwhile, grey cement exports rose 27 per cent to 113,393t in January, with a total FOB value of EUR11.7m or EUR103/t, up from EUR98/t a month earlier. 

Outlook
Construction sector production has accelerated since mid-2023 and expanded nine per cent YoY in the first two months of 2024, according to Federbeton. Infrastructure and local public sector works are expected to be the key drivers of the Italian cement demand in 2024. 

The government’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP), which sees EUR23.74bn in funding from the European Union’s Recovery and Resilience Facility, aims to tackle years of underinvestment. The funding is specifically for the modernisation of roads, railways, ports, and airports. Indeed, infrastructure expenditure is forecast to average growth of 1.7 per cent YoY through to 2031, according to Italian financial company SACE. Local authority payments continued to rise strongly in April, up 36 per cent YoY and totalling EUR5.6bn, according to Federbeton.