Quarter three has been turbulent, to say the least, for cement and aggregate sales. Unfortunately, there’s very little sign of things getting any better as infrastructure projects and new housebuilding stall.

The latest Mineral Products Association report shows that demand fell over the summer, leaving volumes for aggregates, ready mixed concrete and asphalt trailing last year’s figures. For the first nine months of the year, ready-mixed concrete sales dropped -7.8% in Britain overall, and by -24% in London. Compared to Q2, Q3 ready-mixed concrete volumes were down -0.8%, dropping further from the previous historic low. Aggregate volumes were flat, and mortar (1%) and asphalt (+2.5%) both marginally increased.

It’s not hard to see where the lack of growth is rooted. A lot has been made of the 1.5m homes promise to support the construction industry, but it’s increasingly less likely that we’ll get anywhere close to that figure. The Housing Minister still insisting it’s doable shows a lack of understanding of our sector. None of the levers the government have pulled so far, like the planning system changes, are yet bearing fruit and there’s much more work to be done if we are to build over 300,000 homes a year.

The late budget is not helping. People are worried it’s going to be more bad news and that doesn’t instil confidence or attract investment, so businesses are putting off making decisions. We need the government to step up and tell us what they are going to do to get the economy moving and stop blaming the mistakes of the previous administration.

The merchants we have spoken to don’t expect an upturn in trade for at least 18 months. We are all in for a tough time as the end of the year draws in.

On a less gloomy note, we are very thankful to our merchant customers for their amazing response to our appeal for waste stream data to support our Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) challenge. It’s important we understand these stealth levies, not to shirk our sustainability responsibilities, but to ensure they are fairly implemented and the impact on our customers is minimised. We’ll keep the industry updated on the latest developments in EPR, and the forthcoming RAM framework, in due course.