Morocco's cement market contracts 29% in June

Total cement deliveries by Asment Témara, Ciments de l’Atlas, Ciments du Maroc, LafargeHolcim Maroc and Novacim contracted by 29.1 per cent YoY to 746,158t in June 2024 from 1,052,975t in June 2023, according to Morocco's cement association, APC.

The retail segment reduced its off-take by 30.2 per cent YoY to 426,077t in June 2024 from 610,167t while deliveries to the ready-mix concrete segment were down by 29.9 per cent YoY to 171,390t from 244,650t in the same period. The prefabricated products segment reported a 24.5 per cent YoY decrease in deliveries to 78,338t in June 2024 from 103,774t. The building segment recorded the largest contraction, at 45.7 per cent, with deliveries falling to 21,025t from 38,682 when compared with the year-ago period. Dispatches to the infrastructure segment were down by 17.6 per cent YoY to 45,924t in June 2024 from 55,703t. There were also 3403t of cement dispatched to the mortar segment.

January-June 2024
In the first half of 2024, domestic deliveries edged up by 1.1 per cent YoY to 6,276,085t from 6,206,363t.

Dispatches to the retail segment slipped by 4.2 per cent to 3,608,409t in January-June 2024 from 3,765,379t in the year-ago period. The ready-mix concrete market increased its off-take by 10.1 per cent YoY to 1,403,791t from 1,275,638t in the 1H24 while deliveries to the prefabricated products segment improved by 1.2 per cent YoY to 607,359t from 600,472t over the same period. Cement producers were also able to grow deliveries to the infrastructure market by 32.6 per cent to 421,032t in the 1H24 from 317,650t in the 1H23. However, dispatches to the building sector shrank by 19.1 per cent in the January-June 2024 period – to 202,522t from 247,226t. The 6M24 also saw 32,971t of cement delivered to the mortar segment.