BEIJING, June 17 (Xinhua) -- China's cement industry has withstood the test of the COVID-19 pandemic and maintained a good momentum of development, according to Lv Guixin, an official of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) at a recent cement industry meeting.
Lv made a statement via video, saying that the sudden outbreak has caused a great impact on the cement industry. From January to March, the country's cement output decreased by 23.9 percent year-on-year. However, with the steady progress in the production resumption nationwide, the entire industry has quickly stabilized.
Data shows that in the first five months of the year, the country's cement output was 769 million tonnes, a year-on-year decrease of 8.2 percent, but the decline was significantly narrower than that in the first quarter. In May, the cement output amounted to 249 million tonnes, an increase of 8.6 percent year-on-year, hitting a record high.
Against the background, the cement industry has seen improved performance. Data shows that the domestic cement industry earned a profit of 17.7 billion yuan (about 2.49 billion U.S. dollars) in April, an increase of 0.6 percent year-on-year. The monthly profit exceeded that in the entire first quarter.
Lv also urged the domestic cement industry to continue de-capacity, accelerate technological innovation and promote the digitization and intelligent transformation. (Edited by Hu Pingchao with Xinhua Silk Road, hupingchao@xinhua.org)
A single purchase
