MANILA, Philippines — Cement manufacturers have turned optimistic and now expect this year demand to match last year’s level, banking on higher infrastructure spending in the final quarter.
“We see the market hopefully will be flat this year versus last year,” Cement Manufacturers Association of the Philippines Inc. (CeMAP) president John Reinier Dizon told reporters.
Earlier, he said demand is expected to be flat or decline by a single digit this year due to weak government spending.
Last year’s cement demand was estimated at 34 million metric tons (MT).
From January to September, Dizon said cement demand was down by around two to three percent year-on-year.
He said the industry faced challenges such as the Middle East conflict and the resulting energy crisis.
Slower infrastructure spending is also affecting cement demand after the government moved to implement stricter standards following flood control corruption issues exposed last year.
Cement manufacturers are also closely watching the peso’s movement, which has been weakening against the dollar, as some inputs, like fuel, are imported.
However, cement manufacturers have a more upbeat outlook for the fourth quarter, citing expectations of higher government infrastructure spending.
“Our outlook and sentiment is that fourth quarter should be better than the fourth quarter last year,” Dizon said.
With better controls and monitoring, he said CeMAP hopes to see a resumption of legitimate government projects.
CeMAP is also more optimistic about next year, a pre-election year.
Dizon said government infrastructure spending tends to be higher in the year preceding the elections.
With the economy projected to grow by five to six percent next year, he said cement demand is expected to rise at around the same pace in 2027.
However, he flagged high inflation as a key challenge.
Although projected annual demand is below the local cement industry’s production capacity of 52 million MT, he said firms continue to implement expansion plans.