Argentina sees dispatches fall 20% in December

7-Jan-2019

Argentina’s cement market contracted 19.5 per cent YoY to 808,887t in December 2018, according to the country’s cement association, AFCP. In December 2017 domestic off-take was 1.004Mt. When compared with 970,181t of deliveries reported November 2018, the decline was around 16.6 per cent. The data include imports of 520t, a sharp drop from 13,860t recorded in December 2017.

Argentine cement companies produced 818,939t of cement in December 2018, representing a 17.9 per cent drop when compared with December 2017.

In addition to domestic dispatches, the country’s producers exported 10,572t of cement, up 39.4 per cent from 7582t in the year-ago period, as they boosted their export drive to compensate for loss of sales in the home market.

Full-year data

For the full year of 2018, AFCP reported total dispatches of 11.812Mt, down 2.6 per cent YoY from 12.124Mt in 2017. Imports accounted for 70,446t or about six per cent of this total. In 2017 imports stood at 96,302t, or 7.9 per cent of Argentina’s total demand.

Output slipped 2.3 per cent YoY to 11.822Mt in 2018 from 12.107Mt in the previous year.

Exports edged up by 2.5 per cent from 79,173t in 2017 to 81,191t in 2018.

Source: CEMNET