Cement production by Ukrainian manufacturers jumped 24.4% in the first half of 2024 compared to the same period last year as the need for reconstruction materials increases with war damage.
Output rose to 3.8 million tons between January and the end of June this year, Ukrcement, the national association of cement producers, said in a press statement. At the same time, production of clinker rose 12.7% to 2.954 million tons.
The increase comes ahead of an expected surge in demand for cement when the war eventually ends and the reconstruction of Ukraine begins in earnest.
USAID has estimated Ukraine will need to produce 15-16 million metric tons of cement annually over a three-year reconstruction period, compared with the pre-war production of about 13 million metric tons.
It also comes amid expected consolidation in the cement production industry in the country.
The Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine said last month that Irish building materials giant CRH, which aims to buy the Ukrainian cement-making unit of Italy's Buzzi, must first agree to transfer a 25-28% stake in the unit to an independent investor.
The €100 million purchase would give CRH, which already owns three plants in Ukraine under the Cemark brand, two more of the country's eight operating cement plants, with the ninth currently behind Russian lines.
The authority is giving CRH nine months from the date of the purchase to transfer 25-28% of Dyckerhoff GmbH, the Buzzi unit, plus veto rights over "key management decisions," to an independent investor.
The most likely independent body to take the stake is the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Ukraine's largest foreign investor, which has discussed the possibility of joining the acquisition of the Buzzi assets with CRH.
Construction in Ukraine is already surging with the demand for reconstruction. In the first quarter of this year, construction activity surged 40.3% from a year earlier, driven by a 48.2% increase in engineering structures. Residential construction, at the same time, increased 25.5%.
