French ready-to-use concrete production drops

In April 2014, sales of aggregates fell 7.8% on the previous month and 5.9% on April 2013, reports Unicem, the French national union of quarries and construction materials. Sales of ready-to-use concrete fell 1.9% in April as compared to the previous month, and 6.2% compared to April 2013. In the first four months of 2014, sales of aggregates rose 6% year-on-year, while sales of ready-to-use concrete rose 2.3%.

According to Unicem, the French national union for quarry industries and construction materials, production of aggregates declined by 2.7% in November 2013 compared to the previous month and fell 3.3% in contrast to November 2012.

For the first 11 months of the year, production rose 0.8% year-on-year. Production of ready-mixed concrete fell 1.5% in November 2013 compared to the previous month and declined 1.6% in comparison to November 2012. Over an 11-month period, production fell by 2.3%

Thanks to public works and possible restocking, the construction material market was stronger than expected in 2013, according to Unicem, the French union for quarry and construction materials industries.

Overall, sales of materials in volume fell 0.2% from 493.5 million tonnes in 2012. Aggregates grew 1.8% from 360 million tonnes in 2012 while ready-to-pour concrete fell 1.8% from 39.4 million m³. Cement dropped 3.1% from 20 million tonnes; bricks dropped 7.8% from 2.2 million tonnes and tiles fell 2.9%