According to the data of the January – February period of the cement sector, the leading sector of Turkish economy, a 46 percent increase was realized in export revenue of the cement sector while 19.7 percent of the cement produced was exported.
Turkish Cement Manufacturers’ Association announced the data of the January – February period pertaining to the cement sector. Due to the winter months of 2018 when the weather was warmer than expectations, sales in the first 6 months of 2018 were higher than the forecasts. Nevertheless, because of unfavorable seasonal circumstances in 2019 and the ongoing impact of the shrinkage encountered in the last period of the last year, domestic cement sales faced to shrinkage as well. The regionally lowest of tightening in domestic sales was in Eastern Anatolia and Southeastern Anatolia.
According to the recently announced data, housing sales across Turkey were increased by 15.4% in September comparing to the same month of the previous year reaching to 146.903. Evaluating the shrinkage in the domestic market of the cement sector, Board Chairman of Turkish Cement Manufacturers’ Association, Dr. Tamer Saka said, “We hope that domestic sales of our sector will turn to positive along with the favorable developments to be encountered in the construction sector due to the lowered interest rates”.
Cement Sector Relieved by Exports
According to the data of Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK), Cameroon was the country to where the sector increased its total exports of cement and clinker in the first 9 months of 2019, followed by Ivory Coast and Guinea.
In that period, cement export was 8.6 million tons with an increase of 46.1%, while clinker export being 9 million tons with an increase of 111%. The total export value of the sector was 676 million US Dollars in that period with an increase of 46%.
Board Chairman of Turkish Cement Manufacturers’ Association, Dr. Tamer Saka stated, “In the last 2-3 years, the most important market for us is USA. Increases in construction activities there particularly had a positive impact on our exports. Our other important markets are Ghana and Israel”.
