According to the Sindicato Nacional da Indústria do Cimento – SNIC, in the month of June of this year, cement sales increased by 2.4% to 5,372Mt in Brazil compared to 5,248Mt from the same month of the immediately previous year. This means that for each business day, cement shipments increased by 4.6 percent year-on-year to 238,800 tons.
This increase took place after the first half of the year that was affected by high interest rates and family debts, as well as extreme climatic phenomena, which included droughts in the central-western and northern regions and intense rains in the south of Brazil. Despite this, confidence in the construction industry remained stable in June, registering greater optimism than in December 2023, the SNIC said. According to the cement association, the improvement in activity made visible some difficulties with labor, which may be affecting construction costs.
In the country’s largest market located in the southeast, sales fell 0.3% to 2.48Mt from 2.488Mt, but in all parts of the country sales increased. In the northeast, sales increased 3.2% year-on-year to 1.051Mt from 1.018Mt compared to June 2023, while in the south the market expanded 6.5% year-on-year to 0.912Mt from 0.856Mt during the same period. Sales in the central-western region were largely stable, increasing 0.6% to 0.659 Mt in June 2024 from 0.655 Mt compared to June 2023. Brazil’s smallest market in the North, saw a 16.9% increase in sales to 0.27 Mt in June 2024 compared to 0.231 Mt in the equivalent period of the previous year.
In the first six months of this year, domestic sales in Brazil increased 1.5% year-on-year to 30.56Mt compared to 30.155Mt in the same period of the previous year. The southeast accounted for almost half of sales and reported an increase of 0.2% to 14.11Mt in the first 6 months compared to 14.086Mt in the same period of the previous year. Sales in the northeast increased 3.8% year-on-year to 6,268Mt compared to 6,038Mt in the first half of 2023. However, in the south, shipments fell 0.8% year-on-year to 5,199Mt in the first 6 months of 2024 compared to 5,241Mt in the same period. The central-western market saw a 2% year-on-year advance to 3.539Mt compared to 3.47Mt in the first half of 2023. In the north, 1.444Mt of cement were sold in the first half of 2024, representing an increase of 12.8% compared to the 1.28Mt sold in the previous year.
The panorama for the cement industry estimates an improvement in the coming months, driven by the works of the Minha Casa, Minha Vida Program, the large sanitation auctions and the resumption of investments in infrastructure. However, recent resource cuts and lower investments may affect important works of the Growth Acceleration Program (PAC), which plays a key role in cement demand.
There is also an important industry expectation regarding Law 14,871/24, which seeks to modernize the Brazilian industrial park through the accelerated depreciation of new machines, equipment, devices and instruments intended for fixed assets.
According to the SNIC, the greatest expectation at the federal level is the approval of the Brazilian Trading and Emissions System and the regulation of the Tax Reform. Issues such as specific treatment regarding civil construction and constitution, as well as carbon pricing, remain attention-grabbing concerns for the industry.
The Sindicato Nacional da Indústria do Cimento -SNIC (National Union of the Cement Industry) was founded in 1953. Their headquarters are located in the city of Rio de Janeiro. Its constitution was based on the objectives of study, dissemination and legal representation of the economic category “Cement Industry”, considered as the integrated activity of exploration and processing of mineral substances and their chemical transformation into clinker and subsequent grinding, in Brazilian territory.
Among its main responsibilities are collaboration with the State, as a technical and advisory body, in the study and solution of problems related to the cement industry, and the provision of legal and technical assistance on issues such as economy, taxation, environment, mining, accident prevention and work safety.
Source: http://snic.org.br/