According to Demand for cement in China is expected to advance 5.4% annually and exceed 1 billion metric tons in 2008, driven by slowing but healthy growth in construction expenditures. Cement consumed in China will amount to 44% of global demand, and China will remain the world's largest national consumer of cement by a large margin. These and other trends are presented in Cement in China, a new study from The Freedonia Group, a Cleveland-based industrial market research firm.

Ready-mix concrete manufacturers in China will be the strongest market for cement, climbing at an annual pace of 12.9% to reach 194 million metric tons in 2008. Growth will be driven by the government's 2004 ban on onsite concrete production, enacted to help reduce environmental damage from onsite cement operations and improve the overall quality of concrete used in construction.

Demand for cement used in nonbuilding construction increased nearly 10% annually between 1993 and 2003, says the report, benefitting from growth in government-funded infrastructure projects such as Three Gorges. Cement demand in nonbuilding projects is projected to rise 7.3% annually through 2008.