This followed an 11 per cent rise in 2006, a 11.6 per cent gain in 2005, a 17.4 per cent surge in 2004 and a 7.0 percent climb in 2003.
The 2010 Soccer World Cup stadia, some new dams and the Gautrain project should add to cement demand in the current year, but the March 2008 data may have been influenced by the fact that Easter took place in March. In February 2008, cement sales grew by 11.7 per cent YoY to 1.162Mt.
For the first quarter 2008 compared with the first quarter 2007, only three regions had positive YoY changes. The percentage changes for the country and 11 regions were as follows: Eastern Cape 20.2 per cent; Mpumalanga 6.3 per cent; southern KwaZulu-Natal 5.3 per cent; Free State -0.9 per cent; North West -3.0 per cent; Western Cape -4.0 per cent; National -4.4 per cent; Northern Cape -4.8 per cent; Limpopo -5.1 per cent; northern KwaZulu-Natal -5.1 per cent; Gauteng -9.9 per cent; and Border/Transkei -15.8 per cent.
