russia Wants to Push belarusian Cement out of the Market

An economic conflict is brewing between russia  and belarus – with cement at the center of the dispute. Due to a surplus of building materials and declining  sales, russia’s largest producer, “Cemros”, which unites 16 cement plants and more than 30 quarries in 13 regions, is switching to a four-day work week starting October 1. The holding company, owned by pro-kremlin oligarch Oleg Deripaska, is proposing to restrict imports and introduce five-year anti-dumping duties to protect local producers.

The main culprit for oversupply of the market is belarusian cement, which, together with supplies from Kazakhstan, Iran, China, and Vietnam, is already displacing russian products from the local market. Over the past five years, imports have nearly tripled, while domestic consumption has risen by less than 16 %. As a result, foreign cement has already equaled the annual production of several russian plants in terms of volume, forcing them to cut back on production.

russian cement producers want to fix imports at 1.5 million tons a year, which would provide additional load of at least 2 million tons for local capacities. Otherwise, in 2025, the market may decline by 10–15 % from the 2024 level, when demand was about 67 million tons.