Brazilian cement sales stable in February

Cement sales in Brazil remained stable at 4.1Mt in February 2020 when compared with February 2019, according to the country’s cement association, SNIC. When compared with January 2020, when sales were weak, there is a 0.5 per cent drop.

Sales in the north and southeast continue to impact negatively on the country’s total as heavy rains affect construction activity.

In terms of the number of working days, sales rose 7.4 per cent YoY and 5.8 per cent MoM in February 2020.
"We had fewer working days in February 2020 due to the carnival, and the expected improvement in cement sales did not come due to the large volume of rain recorded in the month. Based on sales per business day, the accumulated in the first two months shows a growth of 2.9 per cent ," says Paulo Camillo Penna, SNIC president.

Apparent cement consumption, which includes imports reached 4.1Mt in February, up 0.1 per cent YoY.

Exports advanced by 57.1 per cent YoY to 11,000t in February 2020 from 7000t.

January-February 2020
In the first two months of 2020 domestic cement sales slipped 0.5 per cent YoY to 8.581Mt when compared with 8.621Mt in the 2M19.

In the southeast, the country’s largest market, sales in the 2M20 fell 3.7 per cent YoY to 3.903Mt while in the north, the smallest sales area, they were down 4.2 per cent to 365,000t. In the northeast there was a 3.4 per cent YoY advance to 1.92Mt, while the south reported a 3.1 per cent increase to 1.484Mt. Smaller gain was noted in the central-west region where sales were up by 2.1 per cent YoY to 909,000t.

A 66.7 per cent rise in exports was reported as volumes shipped overseas increased to 25,000t in February 2020.