Cement demand in Morocco hit an all-time high of nearly 12.5 million tonnes in 2023 due to post-quake reconstruction and a government subsidy programme for housing, a local newspaper said on Tuesday.

Demand in 2023 overtook the peak consumption recorded in 2022 by nearly 0.2 pertcent and a large part of consumed cement last year was for construction and infrastructure projects, the Arabic language daily Hespress said, citing a government report.

Cement for buildings peaked at 453,500 tonnes last year while that for infrastructure projects stood at around 744,000 tonnes, the report showed.

A well-known Moroccan economist said the surge last year was caused by rebuilding of damaged houses and facilities in the September tremor and a government programme to support housing projects to tackle a widening supply shortage.

“I believe that these two factors are the driving force for the sharp increase in cement demand last year….consumption was particularly high in the fourth quarter after the earthquake triggered a massive reconstruction drive,” said Idris Al-Fina, a professor at the Moroccan National Statistics and Applied Economy Institute.

(Writing by Nadim Kawach; Editing by Anoop Menon)

(anoop.menon@lseg.com)

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