the Yangtze River are the main demand market for sand and gravel aggregates, with a total annual demand of nearly 5 billion tons. Hubei is located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, with natural geographical advantages, while relying on the advantages of water transportation, the production of sand and gravel will be transported to the downstream Yangtze River Delta hot sand and gravel market. This paper makes an in-depth study and analysis of the sand and gravel market in Hubei Province.
1. Current situation
of the sand and gravel industry in Hubei (I) Demand analysis: Decrease
in the total demand for sand and gravel in Hubei 1. Weak real estate is the main reason
for the decrease in the demand for sand and gravel in Hubei. Since 2022, the total demand for sand and gravel in Hubei has declined. In 2022, the housing construction area and completed area in Hubei Province turned negative, with a year-on-year decrease of 7.4% and 3.4%, and the new housing construction area shrank sharply, with a year-on-year decrease of 45.5%, an increase of 38.3 percentage points compared with 2021. The deep adjustment of real estate is the main reason for the decline of sand and gravel demand in Hubei Province in 2022. In 2023 and 2024, the real estate market in Hubei continued to fall, with data from November 2023 and 2024 showing that the construction area of real estate in Hubei fell by 9.6% and 14.2% year on year. The shortage of funds is also an important factor leading to the decline in demand for sand and gravel in Hubei Province. In 2023, the new special debt of local governments in Hubei Province declined for the first time in nine years. In 2023, the new special debt of local governments in Hubei Province was 164.5 billion yuan, a decrease of 10.98% compared with the same period in 2022. The new special debt funds were mostly used in real estate and infrastructure markets, and the funds were limited. The downstream construction situation is affected, and the support for sand and gravel demand is insufficient. At the same time, the production capacity of the sand and gravel market in the Yangtze River Basin has been put into operation substantially, and the total demand for sand and gravel from Hubei to the downstream Yangtze River Delta region is also decreasing. In 2024, the consumption of concrete in Shanghai alone will drop by 3-4%. Cement Big Data Research Institute estimates that in 2021, the total demand for sand and gravel in Hubei is about 831 million tons, and in 2024, the total demand for sand and gravel in Hubei is 646 million tons, which is nearly 20% lower than that in 2021.
Figure 1: Decrease
in aggregate demand for sand and gravel in Hubei Source: Cement Big Data (https://data.ccement.com/)
