8 listed cement companies, only 1 is loss-making

According to statistics compiled by Securities Times reporters, as of now, more than half of the 2025 annual reports of cement-sector listed companies in the A-share market have been disclosed. The 2025 annual reports of eight companies, including Anhui Conch Cement, CR Cement, Jinyu Jidong, and Wannianqing, have all been released. Based on the disclosed annual reports, among the eight cement-sector listed companies, five recorded year-on-year growth in net profit, while three saw year-on-year declines. Among the eight companies, only one had net profit in the red.

It is worth noting that although 2025 domestic cement output hit a new low in nearly 15 years and prices fluctuated and trended downward, the industry’s profits achieved a certain degree of recovery thanks to lower costs of raw and fuel materials. At the same time, domestic cement enterprises are accelerating overseas capacity expansion to seek breakthroughs in global development.

Only 1 company reported a loss

In 2025, national cement output was 1.69B tons, down 6.9% year on year, with cement output at the lowest level since 2010. Domestic cement prices throughout the year followed a pattern of “higher prices first, then lower, with downward price fluctuations.” Prices reached the lowest level in recent years for the same period. However, declines in procurement prices of raw and fuel materials such as coal provided support for the industry’s profit recovery.

Among the cement listed companies that have disclosed their annual reports, Huaxin Building Materials saw both operating revenue and net profit grow in 2025: operating revenue of RMB 35.35B, up 3.31% year on year; and net profit of RMB 2.85B, up 18.09% year on year.

While Anhui Conch Cement, CR Cement, Wannianqing, and Taipai Group saw declines in operating revenue, their net profits still increased year on year. For example, in 2025, Taipai Group reported operating revenue of RMB 4.11B, down 3.99% year on year; net profit of RMB 634M, up 17.87% year on year. Wannianqing’s 2025 operating revenue was RMB 4.56B, down 23.06% year on year; net profit was RMB 29M, up 120.35%.

Tianshan Shares, Qingsong Cement, and Ningxia Building Materials all saw both operating revenue and net profit decline year on year. However, Qingsong Cement and Ningxia Building Materials still managed to post profits in 2025. Tianshan Shares is the only company with loss-making 2025 performance; its 2025 operating revenue and net profit were RMB 74.5B and -RMB 7.29B, respectively.

In 2026, cement demand is still in a downward channel

Regarding the cement industry’s outlook in 2026, multiple listed companies provided forecasts in their annual reports or earnings briefings. Overall, they believe that industry demand will remain in a downward channel, but the magnitude of the decline is expected to narrow significantly, and the balance of supply and demand as well as effectiveness in the industry are expected to improve gradually.

CR Cement said that since 2025, the country has rolled out a series of policy measures, including de-capacity reduction, controlling production volume, countering “involution,” and stabilizing growth. These policies have laid a solid foundation for improving industry supply and demand and optimizing the self-discipline environment. 2026 is the start of the “15th five-year plan period,” and with continued expansion in issuance scale of special-purpose bonds and ultra-long-term special government bonds, infrastructure investment in urban renewal, water conservancy, energy, pipeline networks, and so on is expected to return to positive growth. This will provide strong support for cement demand. It is expected that although cement demand will still be in a downward channel in 2026, the decline will narrow markedly. On prices, in Q1 2026, national cement prices started at a low level; for the full year, prices are expected to show a pattern of fluctuations and adjustments. The extent of recovery will depend on supply-side regulation and the effectiveness of policy implementation.

Taipai Group stated in its annual report that, supported by a policy package of steady investment and expanded domestic demand, market expectations generally hold that 2026 fixed-asset investment growth may reverse the downward trend seen in 2025 and turn from negative to positive. Transmitted to the cement industry, although new starts in real estate projects are still expected to decline, infrastructure investment under strengthened fiscal efforts will become the key variable determining total cement demand. Overall, while cement demand in 2026 is still expected to be in a downward channel, a narrowing of the decline is highly likely. The decline is expected to narrow to around 6%.

Huaxin Building Materials believes that in 2026, China’s cement industry will face a new stage where opportunities and challenges intertwine, and is expected to show overall features of “stable total volume and optimized structure.” With the deepening implementation of capacity management policies, companies’ production behavior will more strictly match approved production capacities, creating conditions for a new dynamic balance in supply and demand. Based on this, with the continued deepening of efforts to rectify “involution-style” competition, the domestic cement price system in 2026 is expected to receive a certain degree of recovery, and the industry’s overall profitability is expected to further improve.

Accelerating overseas capacity release

Given the current situation of declining domestic market demand and intensifying industry competition, domestic cement listed companies are accelerating the release of overseas capacity. They are using global expansion as an important path to escape single-market risk and cultivate a new growth engine.

As one of the first groups of Chinese cement enterprises to “go global,” Huaxin Building Materials introduced in its 2025 annual report that the company has already布局 in 14 countries and has become a leader in the Central Asia cement market. By the end of 2025, the company’s overseas total operating and under-construction capacity exceeded 40 million tons, and it further strengthened its development layout in Africa.

“ We successfully completed the acquisition settlement for our Lafarge Nigeria project and advanced the implementation of our Brazil aggregate project. A series of these strategic initiatives have enabled Huaxin to establish at once a leading industry position: the Chinese cement company with the largest overseas capacity and the widest geographical distribution. The expansion into overseas high-gross-margin markets is becoming the company’s second curve of profit growth.” Huaxin Building Materials said.

In an earnings briefing on April 7, CR Cement stated that its Mamba company in the northern part of South Africa has an annual clinker capacity of 870k tons and a cement capacity of 1 million tons; it is currently operating at full capacity with full production and sales, and its total profit is over RMB 100 million, indicating relatively strong profitability. The company is steadily advancing the construction of the second line at the Mamba company and has achieved certain progress. In addition, the company is accelerating its “products going overseas” to drive the “capacity going overseas” strategy, increasing the scale of product exports and broadening market coverage, thereby accumulating experience for the capacity going overseas initiative.

Anhui Conch Cement also mentioned in its annual report that during the reporting period, overseas project development advanced steadily. The Cambod ia Phnom Penh Anhui Conch Cement project was completed and began operations successfully, adding new momentum to global development.