Comparison of Chinese and Foreign Cement Prices: See How Cheap Domestic Cement Is

Different people have different views

on the reasonable price of cement in China . In 2019, the cement industry once said, "How long will China's cement price reach $100 per ton?" There was a brief discussion. At that time, Song Zhiping, the former chairman of China National Building Material Group, said that the domestic cement price should be in line with the international price of US $100/ton; Gao Dengbang, the former chairman of Conch Group, believed that selling cement at 300-500 yuan/ton was the best choice; some foreign experts believed that the price of cement in China was too low and should be raised to US $100. Four years later, the cement market was rekindled, the price fell to a new low, and some markets even fell below 200 yuan/ton, and the industry was in danger. Looking at the world, domestic cement prices are struggling at a low level. Comparison of the trend of cement price index

between China and the United States:

Comparison of the volatility of domestic cement price between China and the United States from 2013 to 2022 (both with 2009 as the base period of 100 points), the volatility of China's cement price (171%) far exceeds that of the United States (57%). Price stability is poor. Although the volatility of cement prices in the United States is small, the trend is stable, and basically shows a unilateral upward trend, showing a mature market style. From 2013 to 2022, the price of cement in the United States increased more than domestic level. In 2023, cement prices in the United States remained high and stable, while domestic cement prices continued to fall into disorderly competition.

Figure 1: Comparison of cement price index trends between China and the United States (unit: point; 2009 = 100 points)

Data Source: Cement Big Data (https://data.ccement.com/)

Comparison of National Cement Prices: Domestic cement prices are at the bottom

. The arrival price of domestic P.O42.5 bulk cement is around US $50/ton, and the price in East China along the Yangtze River has fallen below US $40/ton, while the cement price in major European and American countries is generally above US $100/ton, and the cement price in other major cement producing countries is also higher than that in China.

Figure 2: Comparison of cement prices at home and abroad, with China at the bottom (yuan/ton, USD)

Source: Cement Big Data (https://data.ccement.com/). * Simple average

comparison of cement capacity utilization in major countries based on data from some countries: Most countries have a certain degree of excess

. China's cement price is at a low level in the world. There may be many explanations for the low cement price, and excess capacity is one of the key factors. However, compared with the cement capacity utilization rate of the major cement countries in the world, it can be found that the cement capacity utilization rate of most countries is below 80%, and the cement utilization rate of Russia, Turkey, Indonesia, Nigeria and other major cement producers is even lower than that of China. It can be seen that overcapacity is not the only reason why China's cement prices are low. In addition to overcapacity, the large number of domestic cement enterprises and low concentration are also important factors causing low cement prices and high volatility.

Figure 3: Cement Capacity Utilization Rate of Major Countries in the World in 2022 (%)

Source: Cement Big Data (https://data.ccement.com/)

July 6-7, 2023. China Cement Network will hold the " 2023 China Cement Energy Conservation and New Energy Development Conference " in Chongqing to jointly explore new ways of energy conservation and consumption reduction in the cement industry from the aspects of energy-saving transformation, application of photovoltaic and energy storage technologies, and transformation of green electricity and alternative fuels to replace traditional energy sources.

After the meeting, Dongfang Hope will visit the energy-saving demonstration line of "Grade 5 to Grade 6" of Chongqing cement preheater and the energy-saving project of steam driven fan.