Worldwide sales of cement are forecast to expand more than five percent per annum through 2017 to 4.8 billion tons, a slight deceleration from the 2007-2012 pace.

Following recent severe declines from 2008 to 2011, cement demand is expected to rebound sharply in North America and Western Europe. Eastern Europe will perform much better through 2017 as well. In contrast, growth in the Africa/ Mideast and the Asia/Pacific regions is expected to decelerate significantly between 2012 and 2017,after more than a decade of rapid gains. However, advances in these regions will remain above the global average. Sales of cement in Central and South America are forecast to continue to increase nearly six percent per year during this period. The nonbuilding segment of the global cement market is expected to outperform its counterparts through 2017, as governments in both developed and industrializing countries invest heavily in their public infrastructures.