Following three years of strong market contraction, Brazil’s cement producers may still face some months of weak demand before a pick-up in sales emerges.

Brazil’s cement association, SNIC, estimates total sales growth for 2018 between 1-2 per cent, barely making up for the 24.2 per cent contraction since its 71Mta peak in 2014. In 2017 cement sales fell 6.4 per cent to 53.8Mt.

An effective recovery in demand will only come in the second half," Paulo Camillo Penna, president of SNIC.