Last year, the ready-mixed concrete production closed with a volume of 26.3 million cubic meters. This represented an increase of 5.6% compared to the previous year, and it is the highest volume in the last 12 years. Still lower than the pre-crisis levels, however, recovery progress is continuing.
The national concrete production for the last quarter of 2023 has been 6.38 million cubic meters, this represents 5.8% more comparing it with the same period of the previous year, this is according to the production report made by the Spanish National Association of Prepared Concrete Manufacturers (ANEFHOP). Carlos Peraita, general director of ANEFHOP, explained that the main reason why this quarter was higher than the others might be “the push of the elections and the inertia of the projects started”, and that is why this quarter consolidated the growth compared to the previous three, which exceeded the production of 2022.
According to the employers’ association, the industry is overcoming the growth decline caused by the pandemic in 2020 and the energy and inflation crisis of 2022, based on the more than 26 million cubic meters of concrete that was produce last year.
Looking at the region, the behavior has been positive, only six Autonomous Communities had values below 202: Castilla La Mancha (-0,7%), La Rioja (-1,5%), Canarias (-2,5%), Andalucía (-3,3%), Asturias (-15,3%) y Navarra (-17,7%).
Among the regions that are leading the growth, Extremadura stands out in first place, rising by 43.7% and contributing with 0.9% to the total national growth. Other regions that also had an important contribution are Castilla y León (+21%, which represents 1.7% of the 5.8% national total), Galicia (which has a rebound of 17.9%, contributing 1.2%) and Balearic Islands (with 17.5%, impacting 0.5%).
The growth of concrete production (+5.6%) has been higher than cement consumption (-2.6%). This increase might be due to the use of concrete in more diverse applications, which reinforces the positioning of industrial concrete in construction.
Given these results, the employers’ association is anticipating certain stability in production in the first half of 2024. The general director mentioned that even though the data suggest that the growth will be negative in the cement sector, we should wait and actually see how this could affect to our industry. The economic forecasts show that the growth will be continuous but at a slower pace than in the past.