According to the news of Hilal Sarı from Dünya Newspaper, the industry is expected to enter a "super-cycle" with the effect of trillions of dollars of infrastructure investment packages announced by governments, especially in the USA, to resurrect economies hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the analysis in the Financial Times, this rapid growth phase from Mexico to the European Union, from the USA to Asia will bring along a great increase in the demand for construction materials.
Cement giant Holcim: We entered the super cycle
Jan Jenisch, CEO of Switzerland-based Holcim, the world's largest cement producer, predicts a great growth in the global construction industry thanks to the increased expenditures made by developed countries to modernize their infrastructures, and states that this growth will continue for many years. Stating that the effect of the incentive packages accelerated the sector and this situation will continue for the next four or five years, Jenisch makes the assessment that "I think the construction and building materials sector is in a super cycle that will continue in the coming period".
If Biden's package passes, the demand for cement will increase by 20-30%"
Cemex, the multinational building materials manufacturer of Mexico's cement, ready mixed concrete and aggregates, also agrees with its Swiss competitor: The demand for cement will increase. Cemex CEO Fernando Gonzales states that the stimulus packages in the developed world will also increase the demand for cement in developing countries “through remittances and trade” and says: “Additional financial incentives such as the EU's Green Wave or the US employment package, cement intensive It will lead to a serious expenditure on infrastructures,” he says. Maher Al-Haff, the company's CFO, says cement demand in the US could increase by 20 to 30 percent if Biden's infrastructure package passes Congress.
In the USA, President Joe Biden announced a $1 trillion infrastructure project. Brussels has also started to approve national packages from the 800 billion Euro recovery fund, and some of these budgets will be used for the replacement of aging infrastructures and infrastructure investments. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has set aside £600 billion for infrastructure, to be spent over the next 5 years.
“The pursuit of green transformation and economic growth is the driving force”
Noble Francis, Economics Director of the UK-based building construction industry association Construction Products Association, agrees that "a long-term super cycle will occur in key markets". Pointing out that the net-zero carbon emission targets of the governments will also trigger a long-term transformation in the sector, Francis predicts that the pursuit of economic growth will bring an increase in road, railway, water, port and energy projects.
The industry needs green transformation
The sector, which accounts for 38 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, builds buildings the size of the city of Paris every week. Arup Civil Engineering Director Chris Carrol, one of the authors of a report published by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, stated that he does not know where the industry is in terms of carbon emissions, and says, “The construction industry needs a clearer definition of what net-zero carbon emissions mean.”
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