At the end of March 2007, cement sales for the 12 months were reported up to 14.759Mt from the 14.569Mt recorded in February 2007.
This increase of 1.3% was down on the 3.5% increase recorded at the end of December 2006 to a moving annual total of 14.257Mt.
Exports, however, declined by 6% in the 12 months ending March 2007 to 146,678 tons. This leaves exports accounting for just 0.99% of the total regional sales.
"While exports have been around 5% of the total sales before it is less than 1% now, with local demand a major reason for this decline," an industry expert explained.
