China’s cement industry expected to lead economic recovery

An accelerated recovery in the Chinese construction industry is driving the country’s cement sector to resume operations. With a positive outlook this year, analysts said the sector could lead the rebound across multiple industries, reports the Global Times.

As a result of the coronavirus pandemic, cement output in China fell by 23.9 per cent YoY to 299.07Mt in the first quarter of 2020, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics. In March production declined 18.3 per cent YoY.

East China's Zhejiang province is leading the pick-up in cement demand while other provinces such as Shandong, Jiangsu and Anhui are recovering. However, demand in some northern provinces remains sluggish.

Data from the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development showed that 158,700 housing and municipal infrastructure projects have restarted operation across the country as of 1 April with a resumption rate of 85.1 per cent.

Zhejiang leads the infrastructure recovery, with 537 major projects underway at the start of 2020, worth CNY886.4bn (US$125.4bn) in total. Most of the major projects to resume construction in Zhejiang are connected to the technology sector, 61 per cent of total projects compared with 41 per cent in 2019.