of 2026, although the key interest rate of the Central Bank of Russia has entered the channel of interest rate reduction, it is still at a high level in general. After the withdrawal of the preferential mortgage loan plan, the ability of residents to buy houses continues to be weak, construction activities have contracted significantly, and the decline in cement consumption has further expanded.
In the first half of the year, Russia's cement consumption was about 25.2 million tons, down 11.5% year-on-year. On a quarterly basis, due to the low temperature and snowfall in winter and the increase in value-added tax at the beginning of the year, consumption in the first quarter dropped by 24% to 8.3 million tons compared with the same period last year, and shipments in January fell by 28% compared with the same period last year, the lowest level in more than 15 years. Since the second quarter, the decline in cement consumption has narrowed significantly, with a year-on-year decline of 5.2% in May and an estimated decline of only 0.6% in June. The governor of the Russian Central Bank also said that the construction industry, which dragged down GDP in the first quarter, had shown signs of recovery in the second quarter. From January to May, Russia's housing completion area fell 21.3% year-on-year to 35 million square meters, and construction output fell 7.4% year-on-year.
From the regional perspective, cement consumption in the Far East fell the most, with a year-on-year decline of 16%; in the South, it fell by 15%; in the North Caucasus, it fell by 14%; in the Urals and Siberia, it fell by 13% each; in the Central and Volga riparian regions, it fell by 10% each; and in the Northwest, it fell the least, with a year-on-year decline of about 6%.
Figure 1 The decline of cement consumption in Russia in the first half of 2026 is widening

Data source: Union Cement Company, Cement Big Data (https://data.ccement.com/)
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