Although in November it has only increased by 1.8%, the consumption of cement in Catalonia accumulates a growth of 9.6% during the first 11 months of 2021, to exceed 2 million tons. In year-on-year terms (December 2020 to November 2021 period) the increase is practically identical (9.5%) and places consumption for the period at 2.18 million tons.
However, these positive results must be interpreted in a context of low activity in the sector, which is in figures similar to those of 50 years ago. Despite the fact that tenders for public works are growing at a very good rate in 2021, they have not yet been translated into the effective construction of the infrastructure that the country needs.
On the other hand, the industry suffers sharply from the increase in electricity prices and also from the purchase of CO2 emission rights, both relevant cost factors for the manufacture of cement. Electricity and emission rights are at all-time highs. The most direct consequence of this situation is the continuous fall in exports: 16.5% in November, 11.5% during 2021 and 6.6% in the whole of the moving year.
For the president of the Ciment Català employer association, Salvador Fernández Capo, “the trend in the increase in these costs is clear, and solutions must be implemented immediately. As regards electricity, we need to be authorized to establish bilateral contacts with renewable energy operators, at competitive prices. On the issue of CO2 rights, the solution is to maintain the allocation of free rights and to apply a carbon adjustment mechanism at the border for clinker from countries outside the greenhouse gas emissions market”.