WORLD CEMENT
STATISTICS BOOKLET
with Country Level Data
WORLD CEMENT
STATISTICS BOOKLET
with Country Level Data
A country-based time-series set of cement
consumption/production data in graphical
format
Copyright © 2020
Globbulk (Global Bulk Technologies S.L.)
All rights reserved.
www.globbulk.com
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TABLE OF CONTENTS
▪
Introduction
▪
Country Dataset:
Afghanistan
Albania
Algeria
Angola
Argentina
Armenia
Australia
Austria
Azerbaijan
Bahamas
Bahrain
Bangladesh
Barbados
Belarus
Belgium
Belize
Benin
Bhutan
Bolivia
Bosnia Herz.
Botswana
Brazil
Brunei
Bulgaria
Burkina Faso
Burundi
Cambodia
Cameroon
Canada
Cape Verde
Central Afr.
Chad
Chile
China
Colombia
Comoros
Congo D. R.
▪
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
Congo
38
Costa Rica
39
Côte d'Ivoire 40
Croatia
41
Cuba
42
Cyprus
43
Czech Rep. 44
Denmark
45
Djibouti
46
Dominican R. 47
Ecuador
48
Egypt
49
El Salvador 50
Equatorial. G. 51
Eritrea
52
Estonia
53
Ethiopia
54
Fiji
55
Finland
56
France
57
French G.
58
Gabon
59
Gambia
60
Georgia
61
Germany
62
Ghana
63
Greece
64
Guadeloupe 65
Guatemala
66
Guinea
67
Guinea-B.
68
Guyana
69
Haiti
70
Honduras
71
Hong Kong
72
Hungary
73
Iceland
74
India
Indonesia
Iran
Iraq
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Jamaica
Japan
Jordan
Kazakhstan
Kenya
Kosovo
Kuwait
Kyrgyz Rep.
Laos
Latvia
Lebanon
Lesotho
Liberia
Libya
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Macau
Macedonia
Madagascar
Malawi
Malaysia
Maldives
Mali
Malta
Martinique
Mauritania
Mauritius
Mexico
Moldova
Mongolia
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
Montenegro 112
Morocco
113
Mozambique 114
Myanmar
115
Namibia
116
Nepal
117
Netherlands 118
New Cal.
119
New Zealand 120
Nicaragua
121
Niger
122
Nigeria
123
North Korea 124
Norway
125
Oman
126
Pakistan
127
Palestine
128
Panama
129
Papua New G. 130
Paraguay
131
Peru
132
Philippines
133
Poland
134
Portugal
135
Puerto Rico 136
Qatar
137
Reunión
138
Romania
139
Russia
140
Rwanda
141
Saudi Arabia 142
Senegal
143
Serbia
144
Seychelles
145
Sierra Leone 146
Singapore
147
Slovakia
148
Slovenia
149
Somalia
150
South Africa 151
South Korea 152
South Sudan 153
Spain
154
Sri Lanka
155
Sudan
156
Suriname
157
Swaziland
158
Sweden
159
Switzerland 160
Syria
161
Taiwan
162
Tajikistan
163
Tanzania
164
Thailand
165
Timor-Leste 166
Togo
167
Trinidad & T. 168
Tunisia
169
Turkey
170
Turkmenistan 171
UAE
172
Uganda
173
Ukraine
174
United Kingd. 175
United States 176
Uruguay
177
USSR
178
Uzbekistan
179
Venezuela
180
Vietnam
181
Yemen
182
Yugoslavia
183
Zambia
184
Zimbabwe
185
Cement Consumptions vs GDP: A Review
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - i
INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
A COUNTRY-BASED TIME-SERIES SET OF CEMENT CONSUMPTION DATA IN
GRAPHICAL FORMAT
This Booklet presents in a graphical format a large dataset of country-based
statistics of cement consumption, complemented with macro-data on
population and GDP.
To our understanding there is no such compilation of data readily available
with similar depth and breadth.
The data cover 185 countries (some of them already gone as the USRR, others
are far more recent as Timor-Leste). The time-series varies in extension: in
few cases it starts in the XIX century, but for most countries it begins in the
60’s and reaches 2018/19. In the case of some former Soviet republics the
data opens in the 90’s.
While it is a large enough dataset, with over 100,000 yearly data points,
neither all countries nor all periods are equally covered.
The sources include more than 400 technical documents of diverse types,
whose quality is uneven, as we discuss below.
The Booklet provides for the majority of countries a complete enough
longitudinal view, and it allows cross-country comparisons.
The project started in 2017, and we have uploaded it to our webpage
(http://globbulk.com/Cement-vs-GDP). This Booklet presents a major update
of the data included in the web version, which we also intend to revise. We
plan to continue gathering information and releasing periodic reviews of both
the Booklet and the webpage. The reader is welcome to provide additional
input to ricardo.gonzalez@globbulk.com
The set of data is presented by country, and for each country there are six
charts showing:
▪
The evolution of population vs time (mostly from 1950).
▪
The evolution of GDP vs time (mostly from 1960).
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - ii
INTRODUCTION
▪
The evolution of cement consumption vs time, in absolute and relative
forms (Mt/y and kg/cap-y).
▪
The relationship between the per capita cement consumption and GDP
(with the GDP measured in standard and PPP forms).
REMARKS ON THE DATA, FOR A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF THE CHARTS
In the time span covered by this database there have been a number of
changes in the international status of countries, mainly the de-colonization
wave and the fall of the Soviet world. This creates some continuity and
separation issues which we have not aimed at solving in detail.
A considerable effort has been devoted to spot data errors, and we believe
that the larger ones have been cleared. If the charts show what may seem an
outlier, it is likely that we have already double checked and confirmed that
the source indicated that figure. In some few cases we have removed data
which we thought was clearly wrong, but otherwise we present the
information as provided by the sources. However, the database may still
contain errors of different types and we appreciate the reader’s feedback.
We have selected what we think are reliable sources of information, but not
even this is free from difficulties:
▪
Population data is from the UN WPP (World Population Program), and we
have only used this source.
▪
GDP (always per capita) is presented in two flavors: GDP at constant
2010 USD, and GDP-PPP (Purchasing Power Parity) at constant 2011
USD. The sources are the IMF’s WEO (World Economic Outlook), the
World Bank’ WDI (World Development Indicators) and UN’s GDP
estimates. For some specific countries, mostly French DOMTOM, we
have used other sources.
We show the data with greenish color for the GDP-PPP, and brownish for
the conventional GDP. The reader can spot the considerable differences
that occasionally arise among the sources.
▪
Cement consumption has been collected from more than 400 technical
sources, either as a per capita figure, or as a tonnage/year. We have
converted across them with the country population mentioned above.
The data includes (apparent) consumption as well as production.
However, in some cases the sources do not make it clear whether they
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - iii
INTRODUCTION
refer to consumption or production, and the comparison of data may
help to spot the difference. Data whose scope if explicitly production is
represented as greyish dots, while the other sources are presented in
different hues of red, brown and orange.
The reader will easily notice that the cement consumption/production
data is rather blurry, especially since the year 2000. This is not only due
to the difference between production and consumption, but probably
intrinsic to the difficulties of measuring actual cement consumption and
production at a country scale at different times.
It is worth noting that the majority of the sources are either official or
professional, and that the “unqualified data collected from the general
newspaper” that might create the uncertainty is a small fraction of the
data. Some countries may also produce fake statistics, but that is also a
minority, and easily identifiable.
On the same side is the observation that the GDP measured by different
international organisms produce quite different results.
The obvious consequence is that if measurements of GDP and cement
consumption or production have such uncertainties, as clearly shown in
the charts, then the insight that can be derived from the conventional
sources of data should be carefully evaluated.
As mentioned above, we have not screened the data unless for flagrant
outliers, and we have preferred to show the data as published by the
authors. It is possible to reduce the uncertainty through a detailed
analysis, but that is beyond the scope of the Booklet.
A particular case refers to the relationship between GDP and cement
consumption/production: at the final of the Booklet we include a review
article on this relationship.
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - iv
AFGHANISTAN
Afghanistan
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 1 / 185
ALBANIA
Albania
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 2 / 185
ALGERIA
Algeria
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 3 / 185
ANGOLA
Angola
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 4 / 185
ARGENTINA
Argentina
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 5 / 185
ARMENIA
Armenia
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 6 / 185
AUSTRALIA
Australia
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 7 / 185
AUSTRIA
Austria
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 8 / 185
AZERBAIJAN
Azerbaijan
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 9 / 185
BAHAMAS
Bahamas
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 10 / 185
BAHRAIN
Bahrain
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 11 / 185
BANGLADESH
Bangladesh
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 12 / 185
BARBADOS
Barbados
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 13 / 185
BELARUS
Belarus
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 14 / 185
BELGIUM
Belgium
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 15 / 185
BELIZE
Belize
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 16 / 185
BENIN
Benin
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 17 / 185
BHUTAN
Bhutan
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 18 / 185
BOLIVIA
Bolivia
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 19 / 185
BOSNIA HERZ.
Bosnia Herz.
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 20 / 185
BOTSWANA
Botswana
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 21 / 185
BRAZIL
Brazil
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 22 / 185
BRUNEI
Brunei
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 23 / 185
BULGARIA
Bulgaria
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 24 / 185
BURKINA FASO
Burkina Faso
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 25 / 185
BURUNDI
Burundi
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 26 / 185
CAMBODIA
Cambodia
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 27 / 185
CAMEROON
Cameroon
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 28 / 185
CANADA
Canada
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 29 / 185
CAPE VERDE
Cape Verde
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 30 / 185
CENTRAL AFR. REP.
Central Afr. Rep.
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 31 / 185
CHAD
Chad
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 32 / 185
CHILE
Chile
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 33 / 185
CHINA
China
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 34 / 185
COLOMBIA
Colombia
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 35 / 185
COMOROS
Comoros
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 36 / 185
CONGO DEM. REP.
Congo Dem. Rep.
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 37 / 185
CONGO REP.
Congo Rep.
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 38 / 185
COSTA RICA
Costa Rica
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 39 / 185
CÔTE D'IVOIRE
Côte d'Ivoire
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 40 / 185
CROATIA
Croatia
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 41 / 185
CUBA
Cuba
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 42 / 185
CYPRUS
Cyprus
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 43 / 185
CZECH REP.
Czech Rep.
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 44 / 185
DENMARK
Denmark
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 45 / 185
DJIBOUTI
Djibouti
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 46 / 185
DOMINICAN REP.
Dominican Rep.
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 47 / 185
ECUADOR
Ecuador
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 48 / 185
EGYPT
Egypt
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 49 / 185
EL SALVADOR
El Salvador
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 50 / 185
EQUAT. GUINEA
Equat. Guinea
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 51 / 185
ERITREA
Eritrea
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 52 / 185
ESTONIA
Estonia
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 53 / 185
ETHIOPIA
Ethiopia
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 54 / 185
FIJI
Fiji
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 55 / 185
FINLAND
Finland
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 56 / 185
FRANCE
France
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 57 / 185
FRENCH GUIANA
French Guiana
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 58 / 185
GABON
Gabon
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 59 / 185
GAMBIA
Gambia
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 60 / 185
GEORGIA
Georgia
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 61 / 185
GERMANY
Germany
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 62 / 185
GHANA
Ghana
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 63 / 185
GREECE
Greece
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 64 / 185
GUADELOUPE
Guadeloupe
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 65 / 185
GUATEMALA
Guatemala
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 66 / 185
GUINEA
Guinea
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 67 / 185
GUINEA-BISSAU
Guinea-Bissau
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 68 / 185
GUYANA
Guyana
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 69 / 185
HAITI
Haiti
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 70 / 185
HONDURAS
Honduras
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 71 / 185
HONG KONG
Hong Kong
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 72 / 185
HUNGARY
Hungary
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 73 / 185
ICELAND
Iceland
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 74 / 185
INDIA
India
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 75 / 185
INDONESIA
Indonesia
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 76 / 185
IRAN
Iran
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 77 / 185
IRAQ
Iraq
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 78 / 185
IRELAND
Ireland
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 79 / 185
ISRAEL
Israel
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 80 / 185
ITALY
Italy
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 81 / 185
JAMAICA
Jamaica
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 82 / 185
JAPAN
Japan
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 83 / 185
JORDAN
Jordan
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 84 / 185
KAZAKHSTAN
Kazakhstan
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 85 / 185
KENYA
Kenya
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 86 / 185
KOSOVO
Kosovo
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 87 / 185
KUWAIT
Kuwait
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 88 / 185
KYRGYZ REP.
Kyrgyz Rep.
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 89 / 185
LAOS
Laos
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 90 / 185
LATVIA
Latvia
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 91 / 185
LEBANON
Lebanon
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 92 / 185
LESOTHO
Lesotho
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 93 / 185
LIBERIA
Liberia
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 94 / 185
LIBYA
Libya
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 95 / 185
LITHUANIA
Lithuania
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 96 / 185
LUXEMBOURG
Luxembourg
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 97 / 185
MACAU
Macau
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 98 / 185
MACEDONIA
Macedonia
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 99 / 185
MADAGASCAR
Madagascar
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 100 / 185
MALAWI
Malawi
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 101 / 185
MALAYSIA
Malaysia
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 102 / 185
MALDIVES
Maldives
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 103 / 185
MALI
Mali
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 104 / 185
MALTA
Malta
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 105 / 185
MARTINIQUE
Martinique
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 106 / 185
MAURITANIA
Mauritania
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 107 / 185
MAURITIUS
Mauritius
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 108 / 185
MEXICO
Mexico
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 109 / 185
MOLDOVA
Moldova
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 110 / 185
MONGOLIA
Mongolia
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 111 / 185
MONTENEGRO
Montenegro
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 112 / 185
MOROCCO
Morocco
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 113 / 185
MOZAMBIQUE
Mozambique
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 114 / 185
MYANMAR
Myanmar
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 115 / 185
NAMIBIA
Namibia
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 116 / 185
NEPAL
Nepal
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 117 / 185
NETHERLANDS
Netherlands
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 118 / 185
NEW CALEDONIA
New Caledonia
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 119 / 185
NEW ZEALAND
New Zealand
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 120 / 185
NICARAGUA
Nicaragua
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 121 / 185
NIGER
Niger
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 122 / 185
NIGERIA
Nigeria
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 123 / 185
NORTH KOREA
North Korea
NO DATA AVILABLE
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 124 / 185
NORWAY
Norway
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 125 / 185
OMAN
Oman
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 126 / 185
PAKISTAN
Pakistan
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 127 / 185
PALESTINE
Palestine
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 128 / 185
PANAMA
Panama
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 129 / 185
PAPUA NEW G.
Papua New G.
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 130 / 185
PARAGUAY
Paraguay
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 131 / 185
PERU
Peru
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 132 / 185
PHILIPPINES
Philippines
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 133 / 185
POLAND
Poland
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 134 / 185
PORTUGAL
Portugal
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 135 / 185
PUERTO RICO
Puerto Rico
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 136 / 185
QATAR
Qatar
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 137 / 185
REUNION
Reunion
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 138 / 185
ROMANIA
Romania
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 139 / 185
RUSSIA
Russia
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 140 / 185
RWANDA
Rwanda
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 141 / 185
SAUDI ARABIA
Saudi Arabia
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 142 / 185
SENEGAL
Senegal
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 143 / 185
SERBIA
Serbia
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 144 / 185
SEYCHELLES
Seychelles
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 145 / 185
SIERRA LEONE
Sierra Leone
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 146 / 185
SINGAPORE
Singapore
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 147 / 185
SLOVAKIA
Slovakia
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 148 / 185
SLOVENIA
Slovenia
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 149 / 185
SOMALIA
Somalia
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 150 / 185
SOUTH AFRICA
South Africa
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 151 / 185
SOUTH KOREA
South Korea
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 152 / 185
SOUTH SUDAN
South Sudan
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 153 / 185
SPAIN
Spain
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 154 / 185
SRI LANKA
Sri Lanka
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 155 / 185
SUDAN
Sudan
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 156 / 185
SURINAME
Suriname
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 157 / 185
SWAZILAND
Swaziland
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 158 / 185
SWEDEN
Sweden
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 159 / 185
SWITZERLAND
Switzerland
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 160 / 185
SYRIA
Syria
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 161 / 185
TAIWAN
Taiwan
NO DATA AVAILABLE
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 162 / 185
TAJIKISTAN
Tajikistan
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 163 / 185
TANZANIA
Tanzania
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 164 / 185
THAILAND
Thailand
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 165 / 185
TIMOR-LESTE
Timor-Leste
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 166 / 185
TOGO
Togo
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 167 / 185
TRINIDAD & T.
Trinidad & T.
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 168 / 185
TUNISIA
Tunisia
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 169 / 185
TURKEY
Turkey
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 170 / 185
TURKMENISTAN
Turkmenistan
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 171 / 185
UGANDA
Uganda
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 172 / 185
UKRAINE
Ukraine
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 173 / 185
UNITED ARAB EM.
United Arab Em.
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 174 / 185
UNITED KINGDOM
United Kingdom
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 175 / 185
UNITED STATES
United States
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 176 / 185
URUGUAY
Uruguay
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 177 / 185
USSR
USSR
NO DATA AVAILABLE
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 178 / 185
UZBEKISTAN
Uzbekistan
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 179 / 185
VENEZUELA
Venezuela
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 180 / 185
VIETNAM
Vietnam
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 181 / 185
YEMEN
Yemen
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 182 / 185
YUGOSLAVIA
Yugoslavia
NO DATA AVAILABLE
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 183 / 185
ZAMBIA
Zambia
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 184 / 185
ZIMBABWE
Zimbabwe
WORLD CEMENT STATISTICS BOOKLET - 185 / 185
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CEMENT CONSUMPTION vs GDP PER CAPITA: A REVIEW
1.
GDP and Cement Consumption
It is common that the description of a country’s
cement industry, feasibility studies and
industry assessments include a reference to
the relationship between cement consumption
and GDP, both on a per capita basis.
According to the established understanding,
these two variables would be related by an
inverted U curve, with the following features:



At low GDPs, countries would have low
cement consumption;
As the country develops, the cement
consumption grows with the GDP;
But beyond a certain consumption rate,
saturation or peak, further economic
development is achieved with a decrease
in the cement consumption.
2.
Some Cherry Picking
In statistics “cherry picking” is the selection of
data that suits one’s preferences. It is well
known that enough manipulation of data can
yield almost any desired result: let me copy
some instances of this tendency.
The following three images present
“consumption vs GDP” charts taken from
professional sources. They all show the GDP
(in USD or kUSD) vs the cement consumption
(kg or ton), all per capita, for the years 2010
(top), 2011 and 2012 (bottom)
There is economic and technical logic behind
this: cement needs to be manufactured, so the
starting point must be 0 kg/capita by necessity.
Economic development requires heavy
investment in physical capital, which since the
beginning of the XX century pulls cement
consumption: housing, ports, roads. And once
the main infrastructure is built, the incremental
additions and maintenance works require
much less cement: the country can still grow,
but not by its continuous large investment in
bulky infrastructure, but through lighter or less
tangible assets; eventually, the cement may be
substituted
by
other
products,
and
technological progress also reduces the unit
consumption rate.
In fact, this set of arguments is applied in
general industrial and ecology economics, not
only in cement. But despite this apparently
clear reasoning there are some aspects which
are not always properly interpreted.
20180518 Cement Consumption R1.docx
© Global Bulk Technologies S.L.
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3.
Sophisticated Variations
It is always possible to take one derivative
more, as in this chart from a financial analyst
report:
My personal favorites are the following two,
from 2001 and 2008, the first from an
international strategist (but all figures need to
be multiplied by 10), the second from a top
American investment bank.
It represents the “cement intensity”, or grams
of cement per USD of GDP. This happens to
be the slope (the derivative) of the position of
each point in the consumption/GDP chart. It is
a surprising chart because points in the
growing side of the “trend line” will have a
similar slope, regardless of their actual
development. The slope (the tangent) is also
an asymptotic curve, and as such not a
particularly good indicator.
The opposite approach is to use a logarithmic
function, which will unevenly compress the
actual scales, and things will seem more
similar than they actually are.
As a report from a Ministry of Industry stated,
this type of charts is “a striking visual
representation of a country’s stage of
development”. Or, as another report to a
Ministry of Industry affirmed: “History shows
that demand for cement rises rapidly when
GDP takes off from a low base”.
If reality was so easy!
© Global Bulk Technologies S.L.
4.
The non-Flamboyant Facts
Other authors are less choosy in their selection
of data, or their manipulation, and the results
are less attractive, messier:
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But these non-attractive plots show something
closer to what seems to be the factual reality.
The next four charts present the results for
170 countries in the years 1990 (top), 2000,
2010 and 2015 (bottom). Units are kg of
cement per capita, and GDP in USD.
Four remarks on the data:




The dataset is homogenous: consumption
from ICR (www.cemnet.net), population
from UN, and GDP from the World Bank.
The vertical axis measures domestic
cement consumption, not production.
The horizontal axis measures GDP (not
GNP), and it is expressed as PPP
(Purchase Power Parity) in constant US
dollars of 2011.
There is one country (Qatar) with a
consumption above 2,000 kg/ca, not
shown in the charts.
© Global Bulk Technologies S.L.
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And for 1980 also 1:
Unless one removes a considerable number of
data (“cherry picks”), there is no obvious fitting
curve with the pattern of an inverted U that can
be observed in the last 40 years: the fits show
a growing pattern and their fitting degree is
low, as shown for 2015 with different curves:
However, the full set of data used for this
article is not showing that pattern, neither in
1990 (above) nor in 2015 (below):
It is necessary to remove a number of “outliers”
to make the charts look like an inverted Ushape. But, what is an “outlier” here?
A document from 1994 reported a fitting for
1990, based on GNP (note the log-log scale):
1
In this latter chart, GDP is not expressed as PPP, but
as constant 2010 US, as standard PPP series often
© Global Bulk Technologies S.L.
First, allow me one step back. While it is
possible to fit curves to the dot charts
presented above, it is important to note that not
all dots have the same importance: India or
start in 1990. The coloured dots represent various
sources of data.
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China far outweigh Lesotho or Lichtenstein.
When these weighs are introduced, the fitting
requires even more “cherry picking”, especially
after the year 2000 (bubble charts for 1990 and
2016):

There
is
some
value
in
the
consumption/GDP relationship, although
not where/how it is normally shown.
The use of these consumption/GDP curves
dates from the late 70s, but a relevant original
aspect seems to have been lost since then: the
fact that technical progress may prevent
countries to follow the same path. This
hindsight was represented in the following
charts from 1978, and it seems to have been
forgotten.
Despite these drawbacks, the inverted-U curve
is not only mentioned in technical documents,
as shown above: it is also often used in
scientific reports assessing CO2 emissions
from the global cement industry.
So, is this supposed relationship between
cement consumption and GDP just common
and established nonsense? Is it used because
there is nothing better?
There are two complementary answers to this
question:

Massaging the data is dangerous and can
create illusionary constructs. A single,
inverted U-shaped curve that fits all
countries at once seems to be an
abstraction, and its factual support
appears to be based on partial data; but
© Global Bulk Technologies S.L.
5.
Comparison of Time Series
The sequence of charts presented above, from
1980 to 2015, raises the possibility of looking
at how countries behave along time.
Although each country has its own history,
there are certain similarities which may be of
relevance. They are only semiquantitative; and
they are not general: there does not seem to
exist a single law applicable to all countries.
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The following chart is a “cherry picking” of four
American countries: Mexico (green), Chile
(purple), USA (reddish), and Canada (blue). It
presents consumption vs GDP from 1960 to
2016.
A similar result is presented in the following
chart, for different regions (red = China; green
= Europe-33; blue = North America).
Or for some countries:
This is probably close enough to the best that
can be achieved without entering into historical
data researching for data prior to 1960. Joining
the pattern described by the four countries
seems to yield the U-shaped curve, on a timeseries basis.
However, it is important to remark that the
previous chart is a construction in which the
countries have been carefully picked. One
similar counter-example can highlight this:
(Both latter charts have the per capita GDP
expressed in international 1995-USD).
There is hardly any visible cross-country trend
in these factual time-series – other than a
general difference in slope!
6.
Clusters for Comparison
While it is actually difficult to find a common
fitting curve which is meaningful for all
countries, it is possible to find clusters of
countries with similar behaviour. In the case of
the Americas at least four such groups can be
identified.
This latter diagram shows the same
relationship for Turkey, Spain, France, Finland
and Greece. Here, the “path of the U-shaped
law” is much more difficult to ascertain, if it
exists at all, and it is far from obvious that the
same “law” is behind these observed
behaviours.
© Global Bulk Technologies S.L.
Panama, Ecuador, Peru and even Brazil or
Colombia show a steep and rather uniform link
between consumption and GDP, with a
reduction after the last global crisis, which is
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deeper on milder depending on the country.
For Ecuador2:
Chile seems to have found its own rather
smooth growth pattern:
Countries like Mexico or Guatemala seem to
have found a ceiling related to the financial
crisis, longer but less intense that the previous
group. For Mexico:
2
In this set of charts, the sources are more
heterogeneous and are identified with different colours.
© Global Bulk Technologies S.L.
Finally, Canada and the USA come from a
stable or steadily diminishing consumption,
and have gone through “adjustments” in the
latest crisis, very large in the case of USA:
The GDP is in PPP (blue, always to the right of the
chart) or expressed as 2010 USD (other colours).
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