April disappoints for Iran cement but YtD robust

Iranian cement sales came in at 4.051Mt in April, down 10 per cent YoY from 4.5Mt a year earlier, according to the Iranian cement association. Producers manufactured 4.676Mt of cement and 6.97Mt of clinker, decreases of 4.4 per cent and four per cent, respectively, when compared with April 2023. 

A total of 1.029Mt of cement and clinker were exported in April, an increase of 9.8 per cent YoY, with cement exports decreasing 9.4 per cent YoY to 0.348Mt, but clinker exports rising 23.1 per cent YoY to 0.681Mt.

January-April 2024
In the first four months of 2024, cement consumption in Iran rose seven per cent to 20Mt, up from 18.7Mt in the same period of 2023. Cement production totalled 21.2Mt, up 8.2 per cent YoY from 19.6Mt. Clinker production was 23.6Mt, up 5.4 per cent YoY from 22.4Mt.

Cement and clinker exports totalled 4.4Mt in the January to April period, down 2.2 per cent YoY from 4.5Mt in the same period of 2023. Cement exports increased to 1.5Mt over the period, up 7.1 per cent YoY from 1.4Mt, while clinker exports were down 9.4 per cent YoY to 2.9Mt from 3.2Mt.

Outlook
Flooding in the southeast of the country and the holy month of Ramadan will have impacted cement sales and production in April. However, looking at the YtD data the Iran cement sector has started 2024 strongly with consumption and production growing robustly over the period. Exports are disappointing somewhat dragged down by weak clinker exports. Indeed, clinker exports have trended downwards from their peak in late 2022, likely reflecting a sharp fall-off in demand from Bangladesh. Bangladesh, Iraq, Kuwait and India are historically key markets for Iran clinker.