The decline in the Chinese cement market deepened in 2024. Demand contracted eight per cent YoY in 2024 to 1858.9Mt, as the country’s property market crisis weighed heavily on residential and non-residential construction. Meanwhile, investment in infrastructure was not enough to bolster demand and will remain limited due to deteriorating government finances. Added to this, slower economic growth, a declining population and increasingly squeezed middle classes underlie the negative outlook for cement demand heading forward.
Cement production in China contracted 9.8 per cent YoY in 2024 to come in at 1825.2Mt, according to the latest data from the National Bureau of Statistics of China. This follows a 4.5 per cent YoY fall in 2023. Overcapacity is an increasing concern, with utilisation rates dropping sharply to 50 per cent in 2024, down from 56 per cent in 2023. Production at large-scale plants is like to continue to be substantially reduced while strong domestic competition and decarbonisation targets will add pressure to unsustainable operations, resulting in more closures in 2025.
