ARCHIVED - A drop in cement consumption highights current inactivity in the construction sector
Cement production will not recover until 2022
Cement consumption is always a good indicator of how the construction sector is performing and the body representing the sector, Oficemen, forecasts that demand will fall between 10% and 12% in 2020 to stand at around 13 million tons at the end of the year, a level not seen since the last economic crisis.
Oficemen foresees a long recovery for the sector, taking until at least until 2022, due to the increase in the Government deficit and high levels of public debt, caused by the additional spending on other services as a direct result of the coronavirus crisis, and views a recovery as only being driven by the EU rescue plan, which can be used for public investment, but which will not begin to appreciate significantly until 2022.
The cement sector has asked the Government for a specific plan to aid the recovery of the construction sector,as this is seen as one of the sectors that could boost GDP growth in Spain by rapidly creating employment using the EU Covid Recovery Funds. The construction of green infrastructures, a social housing plan for renters and programs to facilitate young people's access to a first home through State guarantees, are some of the measures that construction entrepreneurs are asking for.
"The construction sector and its ancillary industries urgently need a specific infrastructure and housing plan that will make it possible to take advantage of the employment generation potential of construction and also boost the national economy as a whole," said the president of the organization.