Spain's cement market contracts 2.3%

Cement demand in Spain fell 2.3 per cent YoY to 917,152t in April, according to data by Oficemen, the country’s cement association. Exports decreased by 5.5 per cent YoY, just surpassing the 0.76Mt mark.

In the first four months of the year, domestic consumption increased 9.6 per cent when compared with 4M16, reaching 3,786,705t. However, exports declined 8.6 per cent to 2,855,090t.

"The fall in consumption has been motivated, in part, by the calendar effect, since this year in April has had fewer working days because of the celebration of Holy Week," explains Oficemen’s General Director, Aniceto Zaragoza. "Nevertheless, we continue to observe with caution the positive evolution of consumption figures in the annual accumulated figure, given by the impulse of housing that is growing at a rate close to 25 per cent. But as we have already indicated on previous occasions, residential construction cannot be a driving force for our sector, as we continue and will continue at historic lows until the public work is reactivated,” he said.