Argentina’s cement demand declines 14% in March

Cement demand in Argentina has fallen 13.8 per cent YoY to 940,112t in March 2019 when compared  with 1,091,122t in March 2018, according to the country’s cement association, AFCP. However, MoM consumption edged up 2.1 per cent.

Market needs were entirely supplied by domestic producers as imports fell from 17,290t in March 2018 to zero, continuing the trend of the first two months of 2019.

In addition to supplying the domestic market, they also exported 10,896t, representing a YoY increase of 61.5 per cent and a MoM rise of 29.6 per cent. In March 2018, exports reached 6746t.

January-March 2019
In the first quarter of 2019, cement demand is reported to have contracted 10.6 per cent to 2.735Mt from 3.059Mt in the year-ago period.

Output from domestic cement plants declined by 8.7 per cent to 2.765Mt in January-March 2019 from 3.027Mt in the 1Q18.

Exports increased to 29,679t in the 1Q19, up 29.7 per cent when compared with 22,891t in the 1Q18.