Coronavirus widens the cracks in Egypt’s cement industry

Coronavirus widens the cracks in Egypt’s cement industry

Demand for cement in Egypt was on the decline when the military opened a $1 billion factory in 2018 that added 13 million tonnes of annual capacity, on top of the country's existing 79 million tonnes.. Overall demand for cement rose 8% in January and 9% in February 2020 from a year earlier but then fell 3% in March and 8% in April as the coronavirus crisis kicked in, said a second company official, citing government figures.. The state press centre and the military did not respond to a request for comment about the impact of the virus and the military-owned plant on the cement industry.. Of the seven cement companies listed on the local stock market, only two eked out a profit in 2019, in both cases much reduced from 2018.. The plant appears to have been inspired by a government study in the early 2000s that predicted demand would rise to 100 million tonnes a year, the company officials said.. But cement sales in Egypt fell to 43.8 million tonnes in 2019 from 49.5 million in 2017, according to central bank data, a period that coincided with austerity measures under a three-year IMF reform plan..