Ukrcement director Roman Skilsky added that the national programme will mean a noticeable increase in demand for cement, allowing domestic producers to increase the number of idle reserve capacities.
In an interview with Interfax-Ukraine, Skilsky said that in early August the Shulgin State Road Research Institute and the Ukrainian Automobile Roads Agency of Ukraine (Ukravtodor) presented a concept and programme for the construction of cement concrete roads in Ukraine, which envisages an increase in the number of such roads from 1% to 5% in the next five years.
The programme features plans for the construction of bridges, road infrastructure, airfields, river locks, railway modernisation, and road safety initiatives.
Skilsky said the process of approval of the documents for the programme by the relevant central executive authorities is underway.
He added that Ukraine cement sector is not growing and has been fluctuating between 9.2-9.5 million tonnes for the third year in a row. Ukrainian producers feature four large industrial groups, two of which operate internationally.
“The cement industry can increase production further, the capacity reserve is sufficient for at least 20% growth," said Skilsky. "The question is whether there is a market for such growth."
He said that at the beginning of 2020 there was hope for similar growth level to the 20% expansion that the construction market showed in 2019. However, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic saw a 4.6% decline in construction in the first seven months of the year, including a 22% fall in housing construction. There was a slight increase in infrastructure construction, said Skilsky.
According to Ukraine's State Statistics Service, the production of Portland cement in January-July 2020 in Ukraine increased 3.7%, to 5.04 million tonnes, and clinker grew by 1.5%, to 3.9 million tonnes. In July 2020 compared with July 2019, the growth was 5.9% and 12.2%, respectively.
