The global market for construction aggregates is expected to increase 5.2% per year through to 2015 to 48.3 billion tonnes.
The represents a slower rate of growth than during 2005-2010 and reflects a moderation in aggregates-intensive non-building construction activity.
Nevertheless, demand for construction aggregates will still post solid gains from 2010-2015. The Asia/Pacific region will register the largest increases in product sales, as construction activity will rise rapidly, particularly in China and India.
These and other trends are presented in World Construction Aggregates, a new study from The
Eastern Europe and the Africa/Mid-East region are also expected to undergo significant growth in consumption of construction aggregates, stimulated by infrastructure development projects and strong growth in general economic activity, says the report. Central and South America markets will climb at a slower pace.
“Expansions in demand in developed parts of the world (the US, Canada, Japan, Western Europe, South Korea and Australia) will not be as strong as in most industrialising areas. This is primarily due to the already well-developed infrastructures found in these countries and the construction methods utilised, which tend to feature less concrete,” says the reports’ authors.
“Demand for crushed stone, sand and gravel products will post similar growth rates of just over 5% per year through to 2015. As in 2010, sand will continue to make up the largest portion of global sales, followed closely by crushed stone and then gravel.
“Due to more restrictive land use and environmental regulations, as well as the depletion of natural aggregates reserves, sales of recycled, secondary and other aggregates will climb at an above-average pace during the 2010-2015 period.
“However, despite projected growth of 7.1% per year over this span, these products will continue to play a small role in world markets due to quality concerns and limitations in the availability of feed material,” says the report.
In another report, World Cement & Concrete Additives, Freedonia says world demand for such additives is projected to increase 8.35% annually to $15.8billion [€12.05billion] in 2015, a significant improvement over the performance of the 2005-2010 period.
During that timeframe, sluggishness or outright declines in many of the larger, more additive-intensive markets, chiefly the United States, but also Italy, Japan, Spain and the United Kingdom, partially offset stellar gains in Brazil, China, India and numerous smaller markets.
