The Ukrtsement Association has explained the year-on-year decline in cement production in January and February by seasonal factors that always influence this kind of production. Association Chairman Anatolii Havriushyn said: "There is always a fall in winter, between December and March. Construction works begin in April, [then] it goes up," he said. Havriushyn also noted that the companies curtailed production volumes because they still had cement in stock. Some experts attributed the decline in cement production to higher prices of natural gas.
Ukrtsement Executive Director Petro Lopatiev said a number of factors usually have effect on the construction industry as a whole and on cement production in particular. "They are elections, weather, price expectations, and the volumes remaining at construction and production companies," he commented. As Ukrainian News earlier reported, in February, cement production fell by 6.3 per cent compared with February 2005, to 483,000t.
