Más de una década de estancamiento en las ventas

The lack of execution of public works in Catalonia keeps the Catalan cement sector in crisis. In recent years, the amount of tenders in Catalonia has been insufficient and always very far from the historical average and the objective needs of the country. In 2022, the paradox occurred that there was an increase of close to 25% in the volume of tenders, but the lack of execution - due to the lack of diligence of the different administrations, due to the deserted tenders or the paralysis of the projects due to to the increase in costs - kept the sector's activity at a low level.

The slight increase of 6% in cement consumption in the domestic market must be contextualized. On the one hand, 2022 was the year in which the obstacles to activity derived from the Covid-19 health emergency were removed, which should have led to a much greater recovery in construction, as occurred with other sectors of the economy.

On the other hand, cement companies accumulate 11 consecutive years of stagnation, with minimum sales volumes. In the record year of 2007, consumption climbed to almost 9 million tons. The bursting of the real estate bubble and the lack of public investment led to a collapse of this magnitude, which came to be around 2 million tons. And the sector was at that same level at the end of 2022.

Note: Quantities in tons

(*) Provisional data

Source: Oficemen