Colombian cement market continued to expand moderately at the beginning of 2026, but the growth structure showed significant differentiation characteristics. According to the National Bureau of Statistics of Colombia, the national cement shipment volume in March this year increased by 6% to 1.15 million tons, and the cumulative shipment volume in the first three months reached 3.125 million tons, an increase of 5.7% over the same period last year. During the same period, domestic cement production was 1.247 million tons and 3.319 million tons, respectively, with a year-on-year increase of 3.8% and 2.8%, which were lower than growth rate of shipment volume, reflecting to some extent the passive consumption of channel inventory.
From the perspective of product structure, bagged cement has become the main driving force for demand, while bulk cement has a fatigue performance. Cement shipments in bags grew by 7.9% in March, compared with a 2% increase in bulk; growth in bags expanded to 8.1% in the first quarter, while bulk was almost stagnant with a marginal increase of 0.4%. This difference reveals the underlying logic of current market demand: growth is not driven by large-scale infrastructure or commercial projects, but by more decentralized small and medium-sized projects and retail consumption. The data of
customer channels further confirms this judgment. In March, wholesale and retail shipments increased by 8.9%, and purchases of ready-mixed concrete enterprises increased by 4.6%, but shipments to construction companies and contractors decreased by 3% year-on-year. In the first quarter, the trend of differentiation was more prominent: the wholesale and retail channels grew by 10.4%, the ready-mixed concrete enterprises grew by only 1%, while the construction contractor channels declined by 5.6%. The weakness of ready-mixed concrete and contractor channels directly corresponds to the sluggish performance of bulk cement, indicating that the capital availability or start-up intensity of large-scale engineering projects has not yet recovered; on the contrary, the strong growth of bagged cement and retail channels points to the activity of housing renovation, rural self-construction and small municipal projects. The performance of
regional markets is also uneven, with a sharp contrast between traditional economic centers and emerging growth poles. In March, shipments from the capital, Bogota, fell by 3.1%, Antioquia by 1.9%, the Cauca Valley by 5.6% and Cundinamarca by 4.1%. In the first quarter, these four places continued to shrink or stagnate, with Bogota and Valle del Cauca both falling by 2.6%, Antioquia by 0.8% and Cundinamarca by 4.9%. These areas have always been the core hinterland of Colombian cement consumption, and their continued downturn has formed a significant drag on the national total. However, the northern and coastal provinces are the new growth engines: Atlántico's shipments surged 26.4% in March and grew 8.1% in the first quarter; Santander grew 18.3% in March and 16.4% in the first quarter; Bolivar grew 9.6% in March and 5.7% in the first quarter. The strong performance in these regions partly offset the decline in the core markets and also suggested a geographical shift in the focus of domestic construction activity in Colombia.
On the whole, the cement industry in Colombia is in a stage of "total expansion and structural reconstruction" at the beginning of 2026. The positive growth at the national level conceals the weakness of demand for large-scale projects and the contraction of the core urban market, while the real support for the data is the resilience of small and medium-sized projects at the retail end and the acceleration of construction activities in the northern provinces. For industry participants, this means that the adjustment pressure of channel strategy and regional layout is rising, and the model of relying solely on traditional engineering customers and core city markets is facing challenges.
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