Spain’s cement consumption grew 53% in March from a year earlier as the construction industry recovered from a COVID-19 lockdown that saw the country grind to a halt in 2020, industry group Oficemen said on Friday.
Cement consumption rose to 1.41 million tons in March, recovering from a slump last year and moving 9.3% above the level recording in March 2019, the Oficemen data showed.
The construction industry all but halted in mid-March 2020 as Spain entered one of Europe’s strictest lockdowns to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
As building projects resumed in the summer of 2020, when the lockdown ended, Oficemen expects annual consumption in 2021 to remain stable from 2020.
Cement consumption in the first quarter was up 8.4% year on year though was down 6% on the first quarter of 2019.