Spanish association sees larger than expected falls for 2011

Spanish association sees larger than expected falls for 2011
14 July 2011


Spanish cement consumption is expected to fall between 12% and 13% year on year in 2011 versus 10% previously projected, mainly due to lower civil engineering activity, according to Spanish cement association Oficemen.


"If at the start of the year we expected a consumption of 22Mt, with the latest data we think that the fall will be higher, up about 21.5Mt," said president of the association, Dieter Kiefer.


The association reported that in the first half of this year 11Mt was consumed, a decrease of 10.2% YoY.

Thus, according to forecasts by Oficemen, at the end of the year, cement consumption since the crisis began in 2007 accumulated a fall of 60%.


Although non-residential construction and housing are having a stable evolution, civil works "is falling everywhere," said Oficemen CEO, Aniceto Zaragoza.


In addition, association is not expected to have a revival of public works in the coming months by cutting public spending and borrowing by municipalities, in addition to post-election periods, which "usually have a break" in this activity.


Meanwhile, exports of cement and clinker decreased by 1.1% in the first half, to 1.97Mt, after several months of stabilisation.


This decrease was mainly due to the effect of exchange rate and the saturation of markets, the association said, noting that the sector is highly competitive and with some competitive disadvantage.


Cement production fell 8.4% between January and June, to 11.7Mt.


By region, Oficemen said that cement consumption was "significantly worse" in the northern third than in in central and south.
Published under Cement News