Algeria's imports of construction materials reached $3b in 2013

Algeria’s import bill of construction products reached nearly $ 3 billion over the past three years, according to figures of the Algerian Customs Administration.

The total monthly imports of cement, wood and rebar reached 247.27 million dollars on a monthly basis in 2013.

The overall amount of imports of construction materials reached 8.2 million tons, during the past year, including 4.2 million tons of cement with an increase at 60%, compared with the imported quantities during 2012, according to figures that are provided by the Algerian Customs’ Center of Information and Statistics, as cement imports reached 396.6 million dollars. 

Algeria deficit of cement is 5 million tons.

Algeria’s total production of last year reached 18 million tons, of which 9 million tones of Lafarge international company, and 11 million tons of the 12 production units that are owned by government. 

Actual consumption reached 23 million tons last year.

Algeria started the implementation of the public and private program for investments to raise the cement’s production capacity to 20 million tons in 2016 and 29 million tons in 2018.

On last May, Ministry of Industrial Development and Investment Promotion and the Algerian Cement Company signed an agreement for the completion of new units for the cement production, to expand the production capacities of the six existing factories.

Algeria’s imports of wood reached 700 million dollars, compared with 640 million dollars in 2012, as the imported quantities reached 1.3 million tons.

It imports 90% of its wood from abroad after the decline in domestic production during the last decade as a result of the multiple fires in the country’s forests.

Fires annually destroy approximately 60.000 hectares of forests, and in 1994 there was the worst ever destruction of 271.5000 hectares, and then in 1983 221.5 thousand hectares. Totally Algeria lost since its independence in 1962, the equivalent of 1.6 million hectares of forests cover due to fires.

Anti-terrorism operations during the nineties of the last century, and the first decade of the present century, increased cases of fires in Algeria, as vegetation in the north of the country was damaged a lot.

Algeria’s imports of rebar reached about 2.85 million tons, which is equivalent to $1.75 million last year, compared to two billion dollars for the year 2012, in the range 2.8 million tons of imports. 

Revenues and national needs in the field of construction materials reached 600% between 2003 and 2012, after the initiation of the implementation of the public investment program in the field of infrastructure and construction, which costs reached approximately 400 billion dollars.