The positive trend of the different indicators of the Catalan cement market is consolidated with the statistics collected during the month of June, which indicate an increase in consumption of 7.2% and an improvement in exports of 16.1% too. With these data, the first semester of 2021 closed with a total of 1.09 million tons of cement consumed in Catalonia, already very close to, but still below, the figures for 2019 (the year before the pandemic and its effects on economic activity), which were 1.12 million tons. In the case of sales in foreign markets, the accumulated figures for the first semester are even higher: 1 million tons (2021) compared to 966 thousand tons (2019).
The economic recovery experienced during the spring – and now threatened again with the 5th wave of Covid-19 – has improved the expectations of the sector, which has gone from forecasts of growth in consumption between 0 and 3% during 2021 to some that oscillate between 5 and 8% of increase with respect to the previous year. To consolidate this improvement, the Ciment Català employers’ association proposes to the Catalan and Spanish governments that they relaunch investment in public works which, after 13 years at a minimum, has already become essential.
The sectorial president, Salvador Fernández Capo, recalls that “social investments are needed, in housing, in infrastructure for mobility, in suburban areas, or in water management systems”. In this sense, it urges public administrations to take advantage of the Next Generation European Funds to develop infrastructure projects “linked to Digitization or Energy” since a revival of the Construction sector “has a multiplying effect on the economy as a whole and generates activity and employment in various sectors”.