Colombian cement market contracts 4% in June 2018

National cement demand in Colombia declined 4.1 per cent to 943,200t in June 2018 from 983,500t in June 2017, according DANE, the country’s statistics office.

The fall in consumption was attributed to a 12.4 per cent YoY drop in off-take by construction companies and contractors. Retail sales also fell by 3.8 per cent YoY. Ready-mix companies increased their purchases by 3.6 per cent while prefab segment buying was 7.3 per cent higher.

In terms of regional demand, Bogotá saw sales fall by 8.6 per cent, but the drop was larger in Cundinamarca and Bolívar, where the market contracted by 11.2 and 19.5 per cent, respectively.

Grey cement production in Colombia slipped by 2.2 per cent YoY to 990,800t in June 2018. In June 2017 it had remained largely stable at 1.013Mt.

January-June 2018
In the first half of 2018 the domestic cement market contracted 1.4 per cent to 5.807Mt, down from 5.887Mt reported in the year-ago period.

While the prefab segment reported purchasing of 24.4 per cent higher, construction companies and contractors’ off-take was 5.4 per cent lower and retail sales edged down by 0.9 per cent. Cement sales to concrete companies noted a 0.4 per cent slip.

During the first six months of 2018, output from Colombia’s cement manufacturers fell by 1.2 per cent to 5.962Mt from 6.034Mt in 1H17.

Sales in Bogotá fell by 8.6 per cent and Cundinamarca noted a 11.2 per cent decline in 1H18. However, the largest decreases were reported in Huila and Bolívar, which saw their markets contract by 20.6 and 19.5 per cent, respectively. However, at the other end of the spectrum, Norte de Santander sales advanced by 8.6 per cent. Magdalena and Caldas reported increases of 5.5 and 5.7 per cent, respectively.