Concrete Insights: June: Weak demand ahead of the lean season

Research evidence excerpt

Concrete Insights: June: Weak demand ahead of the lean season

J P M O R G A N Asia Pacific Equity Research

17 June 2026

Concrete Insights

June: Weak demand ahead of the lean season

In this month’s Concrete Insights, our dealer checks highlight: 1) demand remains Head of India Research

ACmuted across the country... 2) leaving little room for any potential price hikes Sanjay Mookim

despite higher input costs. 3) Some dealers have reported instances of cement (91-22) 6157-3600

unavailability due to lack of trucks for transport. Heading into the lean period for sanjay.mookim@jpmorgan.com

the sector due to monsoons, it is unlikely that demand will improve over the next Atishy Rathi, CFA

few months. Despite the deferrals in capacity additions, our supply-demand model (9122) 6157-3589

indicates that industry utilizations are likely to be flat between FY27 and FY29. We atishy.rathi@jpmchase.com

J.P. Morgan India Private Limited, J.P. Morgan

maintain our cautious stance on the sector, with UTCEM as our preferred pick. Tower, Santacruz(E), Mumbai - 400098, SEBI

Registration: INH000001873, (91-22) 6157-3000.

• Demand muted across the board: We spoke to 10 dealers across India. All

of them mentioned the weakness in demand: 1) Northern dealers mentioned

that demand is not doing well, though one dealer from a rural region mentioned

that demand is flat, which is better than what he was expecting. However, he

also mentioned that the proportion of credit sales has gone up lately. 2) Dealers

in the West mentioned that demand remains weak, but the delayed monsoon

means the lean period may start a bit later and may be shorter. 3) Southern

dealers mentioned muted construction activity which is weighing on the

cement movement. 4) In the East, dealers suggested that demand has remained