South Africa's cement import volumes shoot up

Cement imports into South Africa have surged by 293 per cent YoY in July and have also risen by 17.5 per cent since the start of the year.

The main source for the cement came from Vietnam during June-July 2019, according to Industry Insight. Approximately 104,099t of cement arrived in South Africa in June with a value of ZAR70m (US$4.7m), which is the highest level of cement imports since February 2015.

A total of 631,059t of cement with a customs value of ZAR440m had been imported into the country in the first seven months of the year. This is on top of an 18 per cent rise in cement imports in 2018.