Stable cement market in 2012
The German cement industry expects a stable cement market for this year. Based on the continued positive overall economic trend, the relatively high level of the year 2011 will certainly be maintained this year according to data from the German Cement Works Association. According to these data, the domestic cement consumption amounted to about 28 million t of cement in 2011 after a growth in all market segments. These data include weather-related demand effects in the first quarter of 2011 and in December 2011. Altogether, the increase corresponds to a growth of about 13 % related to the previous year (2010: 24.7 million t).
The development of the turnover was also positive according to the positive trends in market development. The turnover of the cement branch increased by 7.4 % in the first eleven months. The cement and clinker exports of the German manufacturers exceeded those of the previous year by about 10 % according to projections so far. They only barely missed the export level of the year 2008. The cement production in Germany including exports amounted to approximately 33.8 million t, thus being slightly above the level of the pre-crisis year 2008 (33.6 million t). The imports amounted to 1.2 million t nearly reaching the level of the previous year.
