Cement sales in Brazil improved 9.1 per cent YoY to 5.789Mt in March 2026 from 5.306Mt in March 2025, reports the country’s cement association, SNIC.
The association attributes the rise in sales to a strong labour market, with the lowest unemployment rate for February in the historical series. This strengthened the wage bill and sustained consumer confidence.
“The positive scenario is further reinforced by the real estate market and the impact of the Minha Casa Minha Vida (MCMV) programme, which already accounts for 52 per cent of the volume of new real estate developments in the country. After a 2025 with a 13.5 per cent expansion in launches, the government's goal of reaching 3m units by 2026 has the potential to generate an increase of approximately 5Mt in cement demand during the period,” said SNIC.
The strongest growth was noted in the northeast of the country, where consumption expanded by 16.4 per cent to 1.285Mt in March 2026 from 1.104Mt. Robust increases were also seen in the central-west, where the market grew by 11.1 per cent YoY to 0.610Mt from 0.549Mt, and in the south, where sales increase by 10.5 per cent to 1.044Mt from 0.945Mt. In the north, deliveries were up 10 per cent to 263,000t from 293,000t over the same period. In the southeast, the country’s largest market, deliveries improved by 4.8 per cent YoY to 2.587Mt from 2.469Mt.
Exports fell by 20 per cent to 4000t in March 2026 from 5000t in March 2025.
January-March 2026
In the first three months of 2026, domestic sales saw a 1.8 per cent uptick to 15.934Mt from 15.645Mt in the 3M25.
In the southeast, dispatches were down 2.8 per cent YoY to 7.005Mt in the 3M26 from 7.204Mt. The northeast, the country’s second-largest market, saw 10 per cent growth to 3.663Mt in the 3M26 from 3.331Mt while in the south market expansion of 3.3 per cent to 2.829Mt from 2.738Mt was seen. Sales in the central-west edged up by 0.7 per cent YoY to 1.669Mt from 1.657Mt while in the north, the smallest domestic market, sales advanced by 7.4 per cent YoY to 768,000t from 715,000t.
Exports in the 3M26 were down 43.8 per cent to 9000t from 16,000t in the 3M25.
Looking ahead, Paulo Camillo Penna, SNIC president, said: “Despite a resilient start to the year, the projection for 2026 is for moderate growth. The sector's performance will depend on internal aspects — such as inflation, interest rates, and economic activity — and external factors, linked to the end of the conflict and the duration of its effects. If, on the one hand, there is an effort to reindustrialise the country with government programmes being implemented, on the other hand, there are initiatives such as changes to working hours that, without the necessary technical analysis, are aggravated by occurring in a pre-election period. Furthermore, the regulation of freight price fixing without the necessary technical depth affects the stability, predictability, and resumption of growth in Brazilian industry.”
