Market Trends of Cement Board Industry
Increasing Demand in the Commercial Sector
The commercial segment is a key segment in the cement board market. The office sector is one of the crucial markets for the applications of cement boards in the commercial segment. With increasing commercial activities around the world, the demand for cement boards in this segment is increasing at a grand pace.
The Asia-Pacific region has been a thriving market for office spaces in recent years and is one of the largest markets for the commercial construction sector. Demand for office spaces in India and China has been increasing for many years. With demand from technology, e-commerce companies, and banking financial services, the office space requirement is significantly rising, resulting in the construction of new offices in the region.
Asia-Pacific has been driving growth in the global hotel industry; the rapid growth was planned in 2022 with 444 planned hotels and 111,798 rooms, followed by another 179 properties with 43,735 rooms for 2023. About 515 hotels with 127,104 rooms are confirmed for 2024.
China is one of the leading countries in shopping center construction. China has almost 4,000 shopping centers, while 7,000 more are estimated to be open by 2025.
Furthermore, the increasing popularity of green building is also expected to boost demand for fiber cement boards, as they are a sustainable building material.
In June 2022, James Hardie, a high-performance fiber cement building solutions producer, announced the planned expansion of its manufacturing capabilities in Prattville, Alabama, for different cement-based products, including cement boards.
The United States has one of the world's largest construction industries. According to the US Census Bureau, the value for commercial construction put in place in the United States accounted for around USD 115 billion in 2022, registering a growth rate of 21.4% compared to the previous year.
Such factors continuously drive the demand for cement boards for commercial construction, and handsome growth is expected during the forecast period.
The Asia-Pacific Region to Dominate the Market
The Asia-Pacific region dominated the global market share, with China dominating the market. China is one of the major consumers of cement boards in the Asia-Pacific region. The country uses cement board in a wide range of construction activities, including both residential and commercial places.
China is promoting and undergoing a process of continuous urbanization, with a target rate of 70% for 2030. The increased living spaces required in the urban areas resulting from urbanization and the desire of middle-class urban residents to improve their living conditions may have a profound effect on the housing market and thereby increase the residential construction in the country, which, in turn, is expected to have a positive effect on the cement board market in the country.
However, China's real estate market has been rocked by a series of developer defaults as the combination of housing oversupply, a tightened regulatory environment, and subdued demand squeezed property developers' balance sheets. This resulted in a 7.8% Y-o-Y decline in property investments during the first eight months of 2022.
The Indian construction sector is expected to become the world's third-largest construction market. Various policies implemented by the Indian government, such as the Smart Cities project, Housing for All, etc., are expected to bring the needed impetus to the Indian construction industry.
The Indian government is pushing for huge projects in the next few years. The government's 'Housing for All' initiative built more than 20 million affordable homes for the urban poor in 2022. This provided a significant boost to residential construction, which may account for more than a third of the industry's total value by 2023.
According to the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, the construction sector grew in double digits at 10.7% in FY22 in a rebound from a contraction of 8.6% last year, aided by the base effect and growth in the economy.
Overall, the demand growth for the market studied in the rest of Asia-Pacific is expected to remain moderate during the forecast period.
