Azores cement sales down

Cement sales in Portugal’s autonomous region of the Azores Islands registered a 2.2 per cent year-on-year decrease to a total 27,496t in March 2005, data from the Azores regional statistics office SREA showed on May 9, 2005.  Sales of cement in the region totalled 30,022t in March 2004, SREA added.  On the other hand, cement imports in the Azores region grew to 16,541t in March 2005, compared to 10,945t  in the same period a year ago. 

As the Portuguese News Digest reported on April 11, 2005, the number of building permits issued by the municipal authorities on the Azores Islands during the 12-month period, ended February 2005, increased by 11.6 per cent year-on-year, according to data from Portugal’s National Statistics Institute (INE). The Azores region ranked first among all Portuguese regions in terms of a year-on-year increase in the number of issued building permits in the said period.