For the 6th consecutive month, September has recorded negative cement consumption in Catalonia and a volume of only 156 thousand tons. This data confirms the year-on-year decrease, which now places the market at 2.21 million tons and a reduction of 3.8% compared to the previous 12 months.
The accumulated statistics highlight the lack of investment in the construction of new infrastructure and the maintenance of existing ones. “Every day’s problems remind us that there is a lack of interventions on Cercanías, that there is no maintenance on the highways since the tolls have been released, and that traffic has increased by 40%, or that the construction of the Fourth Belt or the Mediterranean corridor” points to Salvador Fernández Capo as examples. The president of the Ciment Català employers’ association assures that the lack of investment “harms the quality of life and well-being of citizens, and reduces the competitiveness of the country and its companies”. And he continues to cite examples of works not carried out, such as the coverage of the railway tracks in Montcada i Reixac, the construction of the accesses to the Port of Barcelona or the splitting of the R3, recently started only in the section between Parets del Vallès and La Garriga.
This negative situation in the domestic market has been partially offset by the 8.5% year-on-year increase in exports (1.91 million tons), which has kept cement production practically flat in the last 12 months. In any case, all this coincides with a time when the industry must make an extra financial effort for its unalterable and firm commitment to reducing the carbon footprint of its industrial activity and the decarbonization of its products throughout its life cycle, to achieve climate neutrality in 2050.