Argentina’s cement market expands 16% in February



Source: CEMNET

Argentine cement consumption increased 15.6 per cent YoY in February 2018, according to the country’s cement association, AFCP.

Total volumes sold on the domestic market rose to 924,075t, up from 799,340t in February 2017 but down 11.5 per cent when compared with January 2018, when sales reached 1,043,732t.

Around 908,503t of total domestic consumption was delivered by the country’s producers, up 14.3 per cent YoY, while imports more than doubled from 4210t in February 2017 to 15,572t in February 2018. When compared with the previous month, domestic sales fell 11.1 per cent from 1,021,732t and imports 29.2 per cent from 22,000t.

In addition, Argentine cement producers increased their export volumes by 13 per cent YoY from 6652t in February 2017 to 8629t one year later. However, when compared with January 2018 exports fell 12.9 per cent.

In the first two months of 2018 national demand reached 1.968Mt, a 17.6 per cent YoY advance when compared with 1.673Mt in 2M17. Domestic producers supplied 1.93Mt of this total, up 16 per cent YoY, while imports tripled to 37,572t.

Total exports slipped 0.9 per cent to 16,145t in February 2018.

Source: CEMNET