Gray Cement Shipments Fell by 1.0% in Colombia in 2017

While the pace of decline slowed in 2017, shipments of gray cement in Colombia still last year fell by 1.0% compared to 2016, according to recently released government statistics.

In all, some 11.98 million tons of gray cement were shipped in 2017 compared to 12.1 million in 2016 — which was itself a drop of 5.5% from 2015, stated a year-end report from the Bogotá-based National Administrative Department of Statistics (DANE).

Highlighting the uneven construction sector recovery, the pace of cement shipments varied significantly in different regions of Colombia, however. The large department of Antioquia, for example, registered a 5.7% uptick in 2017 while Caldas and Nariño spiked by 16.0% and 17.1%, respectively.

Part of the nationwide drop can be attributed to poor results in December. Just 948,000 tons were shipped in the final month of the year compared to 1.2 million in December 2016, a year-over-year drop of 5.8%.

Photo: An Argos cement truck goes to work in Bogotá, Colombia. (Photo credit: Jared Wade)