Thailand's cement consumption on the rise

BANGKOK, July 20 (TNA) - The Federation of Thai Industries (FTI) projects that the country's cement consumption should be on the rise in the second half of this year, thanks to more demand to serve the government's mega-construction plans. FTI Chairman Chen Namchaisiri made the assessment on July 19, noting, howeve, that Thailand's cement consumption had dropped earlier this year due to a slowdown in the country's construction sector caused by the early arrival of the rainy season this year. The FTI chief said Thailand's cement consumption in May 2017 alone dropped by 10.6 per cent year-on-year, forecasting that the country's total use of cement should stand at 14.25 million tons on average this year. According to the FTI chair, the projected figure on the average consumption of cement in Thailand totally in 2017 is about 5.2 per cent lesser than last year's average cement consumption of 15.02 million tons totally. (TNA)