Aggregates sales forecast to rise nearly 6 percent annually

Worldwide sales of construction aggregates are forecast to expand 5.8 percent per year to 53.2 billion metric tons, according to The Freedonia Group, a Cleveland-based industry market research firm.

Aggregates demand is expected to specifically rebound in North America and Western Europe following declines between 2007 and 2012, the firm reports in its “World Construction Aggregates” study.

“The global market will continue to be driven by above-average growth in the large Asia/Pacific and Africa/Mideast regions,” says Gleb Mytko, a Freedonia Group analyst. “The nonbuilding market for construction aggregates is expected to outperform the building segment through 2017, as many countries will invest heavily in their public infrastructures.

Crushed stone is expected to account for more than half of all new product demand generated between 2012 and 2017, Mytko adds.

Between 2012 and 2017, The Freedonia Group forecasts more than 50 percent of all additional construction aggregates demand to be attributable to China, where massive gains in building and nonbuilding construction activity will stimulate sales. As the Chinese market matures, growth is expected to decelerate from the breakneck pace of the last decade.

Aggregates consumption in India, Asia’s second-largest market according to the firm, will expand at a somewhat faster pace than China through 2017. The construction aggregates markets in Eastern Europe, North America and Western Europe are projected to expand between 3 and 5 percent per year through 2017.

The firm adds that as these regions recover from financial and fiscal crises, residential, commercial and public works construction activity will rebound, generating additional demand for aggregates. Eastern Europe and North America will record somewhat faster growth than Western Europe between 2012 and 2017, The Freedonia Group adds. The Freedonia Group expects Spain, Russia, the United States and Italy to perform particularly well due to pent-up aggregates demand.