Oficemen: full-year cement demand in Spain expected 3% down

Cement demand in Spain edged up 0.6 per cent YoY in November to 1,008,191t, according to the country's cement association, Oficemen. In the January-November period, consumption fell three per cent YoY to 10.336Mt. The association expects full-year domestic cement sales to be down three per cent when compared to 2015.

"The electricity price has risen more than 80 per cent from April to October and leaves us at the edge of the abyss in the international markets," explains the CEO of Oficemen, Aniceto Zaragoza. "In a context where the recovery of domestic consumption does not seem feasible, given the forecasts of public works, and exports put at risk by a profitability almost non-existent due to the rising cost of energy, the viability of our factories becomes increasingly complicated," he adds.

"The Spanish cement industry currently faces an extra cost in the electric price of around 30 per cent compared to countries like Germany or France, and also, it does so in an unsustainable scenario, absent of measures to encourage our competitiveness," said Mr Zaragoza.