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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 1 Congo 38 India 75 Montenegro 112 Slovenia 149
Albania 2 Costa Rica 39 Indonesia 76 Morocco 113 Somalia 150
Algeria 3 Côte d'Ivoire 40 Iran 77 Mozambique 114 South Africa 151
Angola 4 Croatia 41 Iraq 78 Myanmar 115 South Korea 152
Argentina 5 Cuba 42 Ireland 79 Namibia 116 South Sudan 153
Armenia 6 Cyprus 43 Israel 80 Nepal 117 Spain 154
Australia 7 Czech Rep. 44 Italy 81 Netherlands 118 Sri Lanka 155
Austria 8 Denmark 45 Jamaica 82 New Cal. 119 Sudan 156
Azerbaijan 9 Djibouti 46 Japan 83 New Zealand 120 Suriname 157
Bahamas 10 Dominican R. 47 Jordan 84 Nicaragua 121 Swaziland 158
Bahrain 11 Ecuador 48 Kazakhstan 85 Niger 122 Sweden 159
Bangladesh 12 Egypt 49 Kenya 86 Nigeria 123 Switzerland 160
Barbados 13 El Salvador 50 Kosovo 87 North Korea 124 Syria 161
Belarus 14 Equatorial. G. 51 Kuwait 88 Norway 125 Taiwan 162
Belgium 15 Eritrea 52 Kyrgyz Rep. 89 Oman 126 Tajikistan 163
Belize 16 Estonia 53 Laos 90 Pakistan 127 Tanzania 164
Benin 17 Ethiopia 54 Latvia 91 Palestine 128 Thailand 165
Bhutan 18 Fiji 55 Lebanon 92 Panama 129 Timor-Leste 166
Bolivia 19 Finland 56 Lesotho 93 Papua New G. 130 Togo 167
Bosnia Herz. 20 France 57 Liberia 94 Paraguay 131 Trinidad & T. 168
Botswana 21 French G. 58 Libya 95 Peru 132 Tunisia 169
Brazil 22 Gabon 59 Lithuania 96 Philippines 133 Turkey 170
Brunei 23 Gambia 60 Luxembourg 97 Poland 134 Turkmenistan 171
Bulgaria 24 Georgia 61 Macau 98 Portugal 135 UAE 172
Burkina Faso 25 Germany 62 Macedonia 99 Puerto Rico 136 Uganda 173
Burundi 26 Ghana 63 Madagascar 100 Qatar 137 Ukraine 174
Cambodia 27 Greece 64 Malawi 101 Reunión 138 United Kingd. 175
Cameroon 28 Guadeloupe 65 Malaysia 102 Romania 139 United States 176
Canada 29 Guatemala 66 Maldives 103 Russia 140 Uruguay 177
Cape Verde 30 Guinea 67 Mali 104 Rwanda 141 USSR 178
Central Afr. 31 Guinea-B. 68 Malta 105 Saudi Arabia 142 Uzbekistan 179
Chad 32 Guyana 69 Martinique 106 Senegal 143 Venezuela 180
Chile 33 Haiti 70 Mauritania 107 Serbia 144 Vietnam 181
China 34 Honduras 71 Mauritius 108 Seychelles 145 Yemen 182
Colombia 35 Hong Kong 72 Mexico 109 Sierra Leone 146 Yugoslavia 183
Comoros 36 Hungary 73 Moldova 110 Singapore 147 Zambia 184
Congo D. R. 37 Iceland 74 Mongolia 111 Slovakia 148 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

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ALBANIA

Albania

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ALGERIA

Algeria

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ANGOLA

Angola

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ARGENTINA

Argentina

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ARMENIA

Armenia

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AUSTRALIA

Australia

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AUSTRIA

Austria

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AZERBAIJAN

Azerbaijan

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BAHAMAS

Bahamas

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BAHRAIN

Bahrain

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BANGLADESH

Bangladesh

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BARBADOS

Barbados

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BELARUS

Belarus

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BELGIUM

Belgium

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BELIZE

Belize

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BENIN

Benin

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BHUTAN

Bhutan

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BOLIVIA

Bolivia

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BOSNIA HERZ.

Bosnia Herz.

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BOTSWANA

Botswana

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BRAZIL

Brazil

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BRUNEI

Brunei

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BULGARIA

Bulgaria

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BURKINA FASO

Burkina Faso

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BURUNDI

Burundi

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CAMBODIA

Cambodia

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CAMEROON

Cameroon

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CANADA

Canada

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CAPE VERDE

Cape Verde

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CENTRAL AFR. REP.

Central Afr. Rep.

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CHAD

Chad

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CHILE

Chile

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CHINA

China

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COLOMBIA

Colombia

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COMOROS

Comoros

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CONGO DEM. REP.

Congo Dem. Rep.

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CONGO REP.

Congo Rep.

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COSTA RICA

Costa Rica

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CÔTE D'IVOIRE

Côte d'Ivoire

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CROATIA

Croatia

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CUBA

Cuba

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CYPRUS

Cyprus

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CZECH REP.

Czech Rep.

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DENMARK

Denmark

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DJIBOUTI

Djibouti

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DOMINICAN REP.

Dominican Rep.

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ECUADOR

Ecuador

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EGYPT

Egypt

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EL SALVADOR

El Salvador

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EQUAT. GUINEA

Equat. Guinea

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ERITREA

Eritrea

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ESTONIA

Estonia

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ETHIOPIA

Ethiopia

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FIJI

Fiji

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FINLAND

Finland

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FRANCE

France

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FRENCH GUIANA

French Guiana

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GABON

Gabon

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GAMBIA

Gambia

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GEORGIA

Georgia

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GERMANY

Germany

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GHANA

Ghana

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GREECE

Greece

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GUADELOUPE

Guadeloupe

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GUATEMALA

Guatemala

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GUINEA

Guinea

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GUINEA-BISSAU

Guinea-Bissau

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GUYANA

Guyana

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HAITI

Haiti

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HONDURAS

Honduras

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HONG KONG

Hong Kong

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HUNGARY

Hungary

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ICELAND

Iceland

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INDIA

India

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INDONESIA

Indonesia

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IRAN

Iran

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IRAQ

Iraq

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IRELAND

Ireland

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ISRAEL

Israel

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ITALY

Italy

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JAMAICA

Jamaica

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JAPAN

Japan

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JORDAN

Jordan

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KAZAKHSTAN

Kazakhstan

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KENYA

Kenya

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KOSOVO

Kosovo

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KUWAIT

Kuwait

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KYRGYZ REP.

Kyrgyz Rep.

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LAOS

Laos

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LATVIA

Latvia

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LEBANON

Lebanon

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LESOTHO

Lesotho

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LIBERIA

Liberia

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LIBYA

Libya

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LITHUANIA

Lithuania

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LUXEMBOURG

Luxembourg

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MACAU

Macau

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MACEDONIA

Macedonia

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MADAGASCAR

Madagascar

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MALAWI

Malawi

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MALAYSIA

Malaysia

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MALDIVES

Maldives

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MALI

Mali

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MALTA

Malta

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MARTINIQUE

Martinique

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MAURITANIA

Mauritania

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MAURITIUS

Mauritius

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MEXICO

Mexico

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MOLDOVA

Moldova

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MONGOLIA

Mongolia

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MONTENEGRO

Montenegro

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MOROCCO

Morocco

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MOZAMBIQUE

Mozambique

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MYANMAR

Myanmar

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NAMIBIA

Namibia

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NEPAL

Nepal

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NETHERLANDS

Netherlands

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NEW CALEDONIA

New Caledonia

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NEW ZEALAND

New Zealand

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NICARAGUA

Nicaragua

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NIGER

Niger

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NIGERIA

Nigeria

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NORTH KOREA

North Korea

NO DATA AVILABLE

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NORWAY

Norway

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OMAN

Oman

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PAKISTAN

Pakistan

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PALESTINE

Palestine

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PANAMA

Panama

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PAPUA NEW G.

Papua New G.

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PARAGUAY

Paraguay

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PERU

Peru

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PHILIPPINES

Philippines

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POLAND

Poland

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PORTUGAL

Portugal

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PUERTO RICO

Puerto Rico

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QATAR

Qatar

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REUNION

Reunion

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ROMANIA

Romania

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RUSSIA

Russia

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RWANDA

Rwanda

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SAUDI ARABIA

Saudi Arabia

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SENEGAL

Senegal

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SERBIA

Serbia

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SEYCHELLES

Seychelles

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SIERRA LEONE

Sierra Leone

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SINGAPORE

Singapore

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SLOVAKIA

Slovakia

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SLOVENIA

Slovenia

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SOMALIA

Somalia

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SOUTH AFRICA

South Africa

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SOUTH KOREA

South Korea

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SOUTH SUDAN

South Sudan

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SPAIN

Spain

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SRI LANKA

Sri Lanka

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SUDAN

Sudan

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SURINAME

Suriname

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SWAZILAND

Swaziland

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SWEDEN

Sweden

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SWITZERLAND

Switzerland

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SYRIA

Syria

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TAIWAN

Taiwan

NO DATA AVAILABLE

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TAJIKISTAN

Tajikistan

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TANZANIA

Tanzania

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THAILAND

Thailand

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TIMOR-LESTE

Timor-Leste

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TOGO

Togo

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TRINIDAD & T.

Trinidad & T.

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TUNISIA

Tunisia

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TURKEY

Turkey

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TURKMENISTAN

Turkmenistan

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UGANDA

Uganda

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UKRAINE

Ukraine

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UNITED ARAB EM.

United Arab Em.

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UNITED KINGDOM

United Kingdom

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UNITED STATES

United States

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URUGUAY

Uruguay

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USSR

USSR

NO DATA AVAILABLE

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UZBEKISTAN

Uzbekistan

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VENEZUELA

Venezuela

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VIETNAM

Vietnam

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YEMEN

Yemen

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YUGOSLAVIA

Yugoslavia

NO DATA AVAILABLE

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ZAMBIA

Zambia

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ZIMBABWE

Zimbabwe

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CEMENT CONSUMPTION vs GDP PER CAPITA: A REVIEW

1. GDP and Cement Consumption 2. Some Cherry Picking


It is common that the description of a country’s In statistics “cherry picking” is the selection of
cement industry, feasibility studies and data that suits one’s preferences. It is well
industry assessments include a reference to known that enough manipulation of data can
the relationship between cement consumption yield almost any desired result: let me copy
and GDP, both on a per capita basis. some instances of this tendency.
According to the established understanding,
these two variables would be related by an The following three images present
inverted U curve, with the following features: “consumption vs GDP” charts taken from
professional sources. They all show the GDP
 At low GDPs, countries would have low (in USD or kUSD) vs the cement consumption
cement consumption; (kg or ton), all per capita, for the years 2010
 As the country develops, the cement (top), 2011 and 2012 (bottom)
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.
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 1/7+Annexes


© Global Bulk Technologies S.L.
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 It represents the “cement intensity”, or grams
American investment bank. 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
4. The non-Flamboyant Facts
that demand for cement rises rapidly when
GDP takes off from a low base”. Other authors are less choosy in their selection
of data, or their manipulation, and the results
If reality was so easy!
are less attractive, messier:

© Global Bulk Technologies S.L. 2/7+Annexes


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. 3/7+Annexes


And for 1980 also 1:

However, the full set of data used for this


article is not showing that pattern, neither in
1990 (above) nor in 2015 (below):
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:

It is necessary to remove a number of “outliers”


to make the charts look like an inverted U-
shape. But, what is an “outlier” here?
First, allow me one step back. While it is
possible to fit curves to the dot charts
A document from 1994 reported a fitting for presented above, it is important to note that not
1990, based on GNP (note the log-log scale): all dots have the same importance: India or

1
In this latter chart, GDP is not expressed as PPP, but start in 1990. The coloured dots represent various
as constant 2010 US, as standard PPP series often sources of data.

© Global Bulk Technologies S.L. 4/7+Annexes


China far outweigh Lesotho or Lichtenstein.  There is some value in the
When these weighs are introduced, the fitting consumption/GDP relationship, although
requires even more “cherry picking”, especially not where/how it is normally shown.
after the year 2000 (bubble charts for 1990 and
The use of these consumption/GDP curves
2016):
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? 5. Comparison of Time Series
There are two complementary answers to this The sequence of charts presented above, from
question: 1980 to 2015, raises the possibility of looking
 Massaging the data is dangerous and can at how countries behave along time.
create illusionary constructs. A single, Although each country has its own history,
inverted U-shaped curve that fits all there are certain similarities which may be of
countries at once seems to be an relevance. They are only semiquantitative; and
abstraction, and its factual support they are not general: there does not seem to
appears to be based on partial data; but exist a single law applicable to all countries.

© Global Bulk Technologies S.L. 5/7+Annexes


The following chart is a “cherry picking” of four A similar result is presented in the following
American countries: Mexico (green), Chile chart, for different regions (red = China; green
(purple), USA (reddish), and Canada (blue). It = Europe-33; blue = North America).
presents consumption vs GDP from 1960 to
2016.

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 time-
series basis.
However, it is important to remark that the
previous chart is a construction in which the
countries have been carefully picked. One (Both latter charts have the per capita GDP
similar counter-example can highlight this: 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
Panama, Ecuador, Peru and even Brazil or
relationship for Turkey, Spain, France, Finland
Colombia show a steep and rather uniform link
and Greece. Here, the “path of the U-shaped
between consumption and GDP, with a
law” is much more difficult to ascertain, if it
reduction after the last global crisis, which is
exists at all, and it is far from obvious that the
same “law” is behind these observed
behaviours.

© Global Bulk Technologies S.L. 6/7+Annexes


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 Finally, Canada and the USA come from a
have found a ceiling related to the financial stable or steadily diminishing consumption,
crisis, longer but less intense that the previous and have gone through “adjustments” in the
group. For Mexico: latest crisis, very large in the case of USA:

2
In this set of charts, the sources are more The GDP is in PPP (blue, always to the right of the
heterogeneous and are identified with different colours. chart) or expressed as 2010 USD (other colours).

© Global Bulk Technologies S.L. 7/7+Annexes

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