The importance of residential ­construction has further increased

The positive course of residential construction since 2009 is also reflected by the use of the building material cement in this market segment. Now the individual analyses of the ­German Cement Works Association for 2011 are on the desk. “Generally, in 2011 the relation of building construction to civil engineering, i.e. 63.7 % to 36.3 %, continued to be slightly shifted in favour of building construction”, said Dr. Martin Schneider, General Manager of the German ­Cement Works ­Association. “This development is mainly due to the increased importance of residential con­struction.” This trend will probably be continued also this year, in particular in the light of the still low interest level and the increased attractiveness of real estate as an investment. The goal of yearly assessments is to analyse the use of cement for individual product groups and, consequently, to quantify the sales markets for cement and products containing cement, respectively. The calculations are based on internal statistics of the association, on the official production statistics as well as on assessments of experts.