In recent years, cement from Vietnam has gained importance in terms of the amount purchased, as from January to September 2018 they represented 10% of total regional imports and for the same period in 2020 the proportion rose to 30%.
Figures from the Trade Intelligence Unit of CentralAmericaData: [GRAFICA caption="Click to interact with the graph"]
El Salvador, Guatemala and Nicaragua were the Central American markets that increased their hydraulic cement imports in the first half of 2020 in year-on-year terms.
Figures from the Trade Intelligence Unit of CentralAmericaData: [GRAFICA caption="Click to interact with the graphic"]
During the first quarter of 2020, Central American companies imported hydraulic cement for $48 million, and purchases from Turkey increased 154% compared to the same period in 2019.
Figures from the Trade Intelligence Unit of CentralAmericaData: [GRAFICA caption="Click to interact with graph"]
Due to the health emergency, the Ministry of Health of Panama decided to extend the temporary suspension of the construction activity for a 30-day period, under the same terms expressed in Decree 506 of March 24.
The Legislative Assembly approved in second debate a bill that aims to tax in the country the sale and self-consumption of imported or locally produced cement.
The initiative, which was approved in the first debate in the Assembly in mid-February and is still pending approval by the Executive Branch, establishes that the tax will be on imported cement produced nationally, in bags or in bulk, for sale or self-consumption, of any kind, whose destination is the consumption and marketing of the product nationally.
The Assembly approved in first debate a bill that seeks to tax the sale and self-consumption of cement that is imported or locally produced.
The initiative establishes that the tax will be on cement imported and produced nationally, in bags or in bulk, for sale or self-consumption, of any kind, whose destination is the consumption and marketing of the product at the national level, reported the Legislative Assembly.
During the first quarter of 2019, Central American companies imported hydraulic cement for $47 million, and purchases from companies in Vietnam increased 155% over the same period in 2018.
Figures from the Trade Intelligence Unit of CentralAmericaData: [GRAPHIC caption="Click to interact with graphic"]
In Panama, the import of cement and the depressed activity of the construction sector explain the fall in the production of concrete and cement in the first half of the year.
With the entry into force of 122-2019 Agreement, the application of the specific tax, the customs information corresponding to cement or clinker imports and the appointment of personnel to supervise storage places is regulated.
Since the 122-2019 Governmental Agreement was published in the Diario de Centro América on July 25, 2019, the regulations have become effective in the country.
An estimated 7,000 tons of cement from the Asian country have already entered the country, a product that is still stored and waiting to be commercialized.
Businessmen of the sector warn that norms and quality standards need to be established to regulate the entry into the country of imported material, which will compete with local production.
In the first three months of 2018, countries in Central America imported $36 million worth of hydraulic cement, 9% more than was purchased in the same period in 2017.
Figures from the Information System on the Hydraulic Cement Market in Central America, compiled by the Business Intelligence Unit at CentralAmericaData: [GRAFICA caption = "Click to interact with graph"]
In the first half of this year, the country demanded 2.2 million metric tons of cement, a volume that exceeds by 5% the amount consumed in the same period in 2017.
According to figures from the Dominican Association of Producers of Portland Cement, the 2,196,282 metric tons consumed in the country during the first six months of the year, add up to an approximate amount of $196 million.
Businessmen in the sector assert that the country reports one of the lowest levels of cement consumption in the Latin American region.
The current level of cement production in Guatemala reflects the low levels of public investment in recent years in the country. Lack of investment by the State in roads and other public infrastructure works is compounded by instability generated by foreign investment in the legal conflicts that have arisen in recent years, such as closure of mining projects and political and economic problems related to corruption."..."Conflict is an additional factor that slows development and investment, and therefore the consumption of cement," said Oscar Sequeira, coordinator of the Statistics Commission of the Guatemalan Chamber of Construction. "
Seven companies are competing in a market which in the first semester of this year reported sales worth around $223 million.
Figures from the Dominican Association of Portland Cement Producers (Adocem) show that compared to the same semester in 2016 there was an increase of just 1.4% in sales reported by Cibao, Argos Dominicana, Cemex, Domicem, Andino, Santo Domingo and Panam.
In the coming weeks, a new cement production plant owned by the Mexican company Cementos Fortaleza will start operating in Costa Rica.
The arrival of Cementos Fortaleza into the Costa Rican market will be managed by the company Plycem, which, like Cementos Fortaleza, is part of the Elementia group owned by businessman Carlos Slim.The cement-producing plant will be located in Barranca de Puntarenas, according to confirmation given to Nacion.com by Olman Vargas, executive director of the Federated College of Engineers and Architects (CFIA).