Cement sales in Brazil increased by 0.9 per cent in the first four months of this year to 17 million tons (MT), according to preliminary figures from industry association SNIC.
During the period, the real estate segment was the main driver of cement sales, as infrastructure projects continue to advance only slowly due to low public investments.
In April, cement sales rose 0.2 per cent to 4.36MT compared with a year ago. ?For May, the association forecasts a better performance, but mainly because of a weak comparison basis.
"April performance was below the growth presented at the beginning of the year. For May, we expect a more robust expansion, since in the same month of 2018 we had a low sales volume due to the truckers’ strike," said SNIC president Paulo Camillo.