Puerto Rican cement market released a weak signal of stabilization in March 2026, with the national cement shipment volume increasing by 1.6% year-on-year to 62,100 tons, and the domestic production increasing by 1.9% to 34,000 tons. However, the marginal improvement in this single month is far from enough to reverse the overall decline since the beginning of the year. In the first three months of this year, the cumulative cement sales volume still fell by 3.2% year-on-year to 159400 tons, and the output fell by 1.1% to 91200 tons. The foundation of market recovery is still extremely fragile. The recovery in
March was in sharp contrast to the deep downturn in the previous two months. In February this year, Puerto Rico's cement shipments plunged 10.9% year-on-year to 47900 tons, and its output fell 8.9% to 27800 tons, making it the core month that dragged down the first quarter's performance. In January, the market was basically flat, with shipments falling slightly by 0.6% to 49400 tons, but production increased by 3.7% to 29500 tons against the trend, indicating that enterprises had tried to maintain a higher output level at the beginning of the year when demand was still stable. This sharp fluctuation of "stable in January, collapse in February and micro-bomb in March" reflects the lack of sustained and stable momentum in Puerto Rico's construction market in the current cycle, and cement consumption is more disturbed by short-term project rhythm and seasonal factors than by trend demand expansion.
From the point of view of the relationship between production and marketing, the decline in production in the first quarter was significantly smaller than decline in sales, which contained a noteworthy inventory signal. In the first three months, the national cement production decreased by only 1.1%, while the sales volume decreased by 3.2%, which means that the gap between production and marketing of nearly 10000 tons needs to be filled by consuming existing stocks. The sharp contraction of production in February and the early release of production in January may be the result of enterprises taking the initiative to adjust production rhythm and avoid excessive inventory accumulation after observing the weakening of demand. In March, the output and sales turned positive synchronously, indicating that after the destocking in February, the enterprise restarted the release of production capacity with the marginal recovery of orders.
On the whole, although the double growth of shipment volume and production in March has brought a little warmth to the Puerto Rican cement market, in view of the deep decline in February, the total volume in the first quarter has been pulled into the negative growth range, whether the current improvement constitutes a trend reversal still needs to be verified by the data of subsequent months. For local cement enterprises, under the background of uncertain demand prospects throughout the year, how to maintain a balance between capacity recovery and inventory management will be the key issue to determine business performance in the second half of the year.
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