South African cement sales boom

Cement sales for the first half of 2005 rose by 10.3 per cent year-on-year (y/y) to 5,496,523t, the Cement and Concrete Institute (CNCI) reported.
The increase in June was 6.9 per cent y/y to 1,071,682t after May’s 8.1 per cent y/y rise to 1,016,043t after April’s large 28 per cent surge to 971,604t. Cement sales rose only 2.1 per cent y/y in March 2005 to 924,652t.

Cement sales in South Africa rose by 17.4 per cent in 2004 to a record 10.69Mt compared with a 7.0 per cent rise in 2003. Exports however declined by 14.1 per cent to 1.32Mt after a 10 per cent drop in 2003.

Total cement sales rose by 12.8 per cent to 12Mt, less than 15 per cent short of nominal capacity of 13.5Mt. Some cement producers have started expansions, but these are only expected to come into production in 2007.

South Africa is currently experiencing a housing boom with South African house prices increasing by 32.6 per cent y/y in December. This brought the annual average increase to 32.1 per cent for 2004 compared with 21.5 per cent in 2003 according to South African commercial bank ABSA’s monthly House Price Index.

November 2004 was the third consecutive month that cement volumes have exceeded one million tons in a month after this milestone was breached for the first time in June 2004. In June 2004, cement sales surged by 31.5 per cent y/y to a then-record 1,002,377t.