Cement industry to grow two per cent in 2004

Chilean Cement company Cementos Polpaico, part of the Swiss group Holcim, has had a good year bearing in mind that through the third quarter its profits grew 25 per cent to 11.13 billion pesos (US$18.37m). The positive figures were boosted by operating results, which reached 16.37 billion pesos (US$27.02m), 31.9 per cent more than in the same period last year, mainly due to cost reductions (13.9%), which compensated for the 8.4% drop in sales.

Polpaico has three cement plants and 27 premixed concrete facilities, said Eduardo Kretschmer, the general manager of the cement group with 33.5 per cent market share. He added that he was satisfied with the results and said that he expects cement consumption to grow this year. In 2004, the market cement should finish up with growth of around two per cent in consumption due to the medium-sized projects that have replaced mega infrastructure projects", Kretschmer said. For 2005, the executive forecast three per cent growth.