First of all, an appeal: do any of you out there know how we can get hold of the latest global statistics for cement production and prices?
Much as we like to retain a ‘golden appeal' in Construction Week, realisation is gradually dawning that the table detailing cement production figures for 2003/04 on our business leads probably isn't much use to you.
This realisation has largely been prompted by our readers, who will no doubt have the amount of cement generated in Puerto Rico four years ago etched in their memories forever. You never know, it might just prove useful in a quiz one day.
Sad though it will be not to proofread this table every week (I still have hope in the challenge of finding an anomaly), we really could do with updating it, or better still, getting information about cement prices.
We've gone to great lengths to achieve this, including calling potential information sources in Europe, but so far our efforts have been in vain.
The reason for raising the subject only now is because we ourselves had to go in search of local production figures and prices earlier this week. It appears that there is no easy way of obtaining construction statistics for the local industry.
But through information obtained via ‘word of mouth' and previous news reports, we have found that cement production capacity in the UAE is set to grow exponentially over the next year or so.
The news that 26 million tonnes a year will be on stream by 2008 will no doubt come as a relief to contractors scrambling to source cement during the current shortage, which has been estimated at 30% and is largely due to unforeseen construction growth in places like Ajman and Ras Al Khaimah.
Some contractors have resorted to paying double the price per tonne, rather than incurring penalties for project delays, while others may have been put off from taking on projects altogether through fear of extra cost burdens.
But hopefully the current impetus will lead to assurance that shortages will now be avoided, and maybe one day the UAE will be number one on that elusive production league table.
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