Cement consumption in Catalonia during the month of May has registered a growth of 0.4%. With this figure, the market variation in the last year stands at -8.5% and a volume of 2.10 million tons. Cement production remains practically identical to that of May 2023, but has accumulated a drop of 6.6% in the last 12 months, with a volume of 3.15 million tons. Cement and clinker exports, on the other hand, have grown by 77% during the month of May, which has helped minimize the sharp decline in sales in foreign markets in recent times, which, even so, have decreased by 18%.2% in the last year and total 1.6 million tons.
The statistics confirm both the sluggishness of the domestic market and the difficulties of Catalan companies in competing in other countries. This context is likely to worsen in the current situation that the country is experiencing. Ciment Català, the sector’s employers’ association, issues a warning about the paralysis in the management of the Catalan administration due to the fact that the Generalitat government is in office and with its budgets extended. Its president, Salvador Fernández Capo, warns that this situation “will further delay the execution of investments in infrastructure” essential for society and the economic sectors.
The delay in the construction and maintenance of public facilities adds to the delay and lack of resolution in the response to the industry’s technical projects, with the damage that this entails to factories, for example, in their decarbonization plans and fight against Climate Change.