Cement consumption slows its recovery in Catalonia during October

After a few months of growth that had brought it back to the level before the pandemic, cement consumption in Catalonia suffered a slight decline this past October (-1.3%, for a total of 188 thousand tons) compared to the previous year. With this data, the rate for the moving year (last 12 months) stands at 8.9% and 2.17 million tons. Production, with a decrease of 6%, and especially exports, which fell by 47.3%, complete the statistical table corresponding to October 2021.

The sluggishness of the internal market – with a per capita consumption that is one third lower than the average of the European Union – is explained by the paralysis in the construction of pending infrastructures in Catalonia, awaiting the approval of the budgets of the Catalan and Spanish governments relaunch this activity. The economic recovery of the country requires new investments in civil works, mainly associated with the improvement of the mobility of people and goods and the development of infrastructure related to energy and the environment.

For its part, the sharp drop in sales in foreign markets confirms the loss of competitiveness of Catalan factories due to the very high prices of electricity (which are almost three times the planned budgets) and CO₂ emission rights. These factors increase the cost of the product, which is not the case in other large cement producing countries outside the EU that can place cement on international markets at a much lower cost.

Precisely, carbon neutrality has become the great bet of the Catalan cement sector. The Roadmap to achieve climate neutrality in 2050 foresees a complete reduction of carbon dioxide emissions by 2050 along its value chain. Through the use, among many others, of circular economy tools, as is the case in the short term of the material and energy recovery (alternative fuels) of materials that would otherwise go to incineration or dumping, Catalan cement factories reiterate its commitment to the progressive reduction of CO₂ emissions and to advance in line with the governmental decisions agreed at the climate summits such as the last one in Glasgow (COP26).