World Cement's World Review 2022

Introduction

After two years of pandemic panic, lockdowns, vaccinations, supply chain disruption, etc., 2022 offered hope that things were finally returning to normal, despite the growing pains of a resurgent global economy. And then Russia invaded Ukraine.

The OECD reports that: “Prior to the war, the world economy was on track for a strong, albeit uneven, recovery from COVID-19. The conflict in Ukraine and the supply-chain disruptions exacerbated by shutdowns in China due to the zero-COVID policy are dealing a serious blow to the recovery.” Higher commodity prices have spurred inflation, curbing spending and further weakening economic recovery. As a result, the OECD’s forecast for global growth in 2022 was cut from 4.5% to 3%.

The cement sector was also expected to see a continued recovery this year; most regions were forecast to see moderate growth. And in the US, President Biden’s US$1 trillion infrastructure bill was approved in November 2021, opening up huge amounts of money for construction projects. Yet soaring energy prices, and inflationary pressures have already resulted in the temporary closure of some plants. Just as it overcomes one hurdle, the industry now finds itself in front of another.

The World Review is broken down by region: Africa and the Middle East, Asia Pacific, Europe and CIS, North America, and South America. Each section begins with a ‘Featured Project’ from the region before listing projects on a country-by-country, plant-by-plant basis.

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Read the article online at: https://www.worldcement.com/europe-cis/20072022/world-cements-world-review-2022/