Ready-mixed concrete production levels off

Ready-mixed concrete production was 4.1 million cubic metres in 2018, flattening out after six calendar years of growth, Stats NZ said today.

The 2018 production level is down 0.4 percent from the year ended December 2017.

“The volume of ready-mixed concrete produced was high in the last three years, consistently exceeding 4 million cubic metres each year,” construction statistics manager Melissa McKenzie said.

“This is consistent with high levels of both residential and non-residential building activity being consented in 2018, particularly for shops, restaurants and bars, farm buildings, and social, cultural, and religious buildings.”

Building consents Issued: December 2018 has more information.

Regionally, the biggest annual fall in ready-mixed concrete production was in Canterbury, down 9.7 percent to 648,000 cubic metres.

“Production in Canterbury fell in the past three years, after ramping up during the peak of post-earthquake rebuilding,” Ms McKenzie said.

The fall was even sharper in Christchurch city, down 12.8 percent to 472,000 cubic metres in 2018, compared with the year ended December 2017.

Annual concrete production in the Auckland region remained at high levels, up 2.6 percent in 2018 to a record 1.5 million cubic metres. The Auckland region is by far the biggest user of concrete, accounting for more than one-third of the national total.

Production in Auckland city alone (metropolitan area) was just more than 1 million cubic metres in 2018, up 2.9 percent from 2017.

December 2018 quarter production dips 3.4 percent

In the December 2018 quarter alone, ready-mixed concrete production was 1.06 million cubic metres. After adjusting for typical seasonal patterns, production in the December quarter was down 3.4 percent compared with the September 2018 quarter.

"Ready-mixed concrete production was above 1 million cubic metres a quarter for more than three years, except in March quarters," Ms McKenzie said. "This December 2018 quarter, enough concrete was produced to build 70 Sky Towers."

Infoshare has regional data for ready-mixed concrete production. Select Industry sectors as the subject category then Secondary Production – SEP as the group.

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