Peruvian cement market expands 8% in March

Cement dispatches in Peru increased eight per cent YoY to 1.173Mt in March 2022, according to the country’s cement association, Asocem. In March 2021 dispatches were at a level of 1.089Mt.

Domestic cement production by Asocem members advanced 11 per cent YoY to 1.121Mt in March 2022 when compared to 1.006Mt in March 2021. Clinker production increased by a third to 939,000t from 708,000t over the same period.

The country’s cement output was supplemented by 50,000t of cement imports in March 2022, down 62 per cent YoY from 133,000t. Of this total, 44,000t was shipped from Vietnam and an additional 6000t from neighbouring Chile.

Clinker imports decreased 39 per cent to 156,000t in March 2022 from 256,000t in the equivalent period of 2021.

Cement exports from Peru saw a 14 per cent YoY uptick to 18,000t in March 2022 from 16,000t in March 2021 while clinker exports declined by 58 per cent to 30,000t from 70,000t.

January-March 2022
In the first quarter of 2022 domestic cement dispatches increased 3.345Mt, a 4.1 per cent advance when compared with the equivalent quarter of the previous year when dispatches reached 3.212Mt. Of this total, Asocem members delivered 3.131Mt, up 5.7 per cent from 2.963Mt in the 1Q21.

Production by Asocem members increased 6.7 per cent to 3.228Mt in the 1Q22 from 3.023Mt in the 1Q21.

In addition, the market absorbed in the 1Q22 a total of 148,000t of cement imports, down 44.8 per cent when compared with a cement import volume of 268,000t in the 1Q21. Clinker imports during the January-March 2022 period  decreased by 43.7 per cent to 348,000t from 618,000t in the equivalent period of the previous year.

Cement exports saw a 10.9 per cent uptick to 51,000t in the first three months of 2022 from 46,000t in the 3M21. Clinker export volumes improved by 43.4 per cent to 152,000t in the 3M21 from 106,000t.