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| BCA says industry is 'recovering from shortages' The British Cement Association reported the reasons behind the tightness of supply in the market, that all UK plants had returned to full production in late March and that the supply situation was gradually easing, but would take some time to resolve. The cement market is currently stronger than forecasted – BCA members have seen a surge in demand of around 5%, when compared with last year – and stock levels to supplement supplies are lower than usual due to higher demand in the fourth quarter of 2006. Under the circumstances, cement manufacturers have imported more product (around 3% of capacity) to help alleviate the situation. Unseasonably mild weather on the continent has, however, similarly resulted in stronger than usual demand for cement and thus a lack of available supply. Imported cement adds transport CO2 to the 'costs' of cement delivered in the UK, thus UK cement manufacturers have invested in domestic capacity to reduce reliance on imports. Traditionally, cement is a local product delivered locally. The British Cement Association (BCA) is the trade and research organisation that represents the interests of the United Kingdom's cement industry in its relations with Her Majesty's Government, the European Union and relevant organisations in the United Kingdom. The members of the BCA (Tarmac Buxton Lime and Cement, Castle Cement, Cemex Cement UK and Lafarge Cement UK) are the major domestic manufacturers of Portland cement producing over 90% of the cement sold in the UK. The cement industry has an annual turnover of £775 million and is a major supplier to the construction industry. It employs around 3,400 people directly with a further 15, 000 jobs depending upon its operations. write your comments about the article :: © 2007 Construction News :: home page |