Thai-listed construction materials producer Siam Cement Group Pcl (SCG) on Monday reported slow growth in the Cambodian construction market during the first quarter (Q1) of this year as the Covid-19 outbreak hammers the sector.

SCG’s Q1 financial report shows that it owned 1,518 billion riel ($380 million) worth of assets in Cambodia, a year-on-year increase of five per cent.

Q1 sales increased seven per cent year-on-year to 272 billion riel, which includes sales from its cement and building materials manufacturing businesses.

“To ensure the company’s operation and production during the Covid-19 pandemic, SCG has put full-blown business continuity management measures into practice.

“Moreover, protecting the health and wellbeing of all stakeholders is our utmost priority during the pandemic.

“SCG has implemented social distancing and leveraged digital infrastructure including cloud-based tools to assist employees while working from home,” the company said in the report.

President and CEO Roongrote Rangsiyopash said global economies are being affected by the ongoing pandemic, which has created a hostile work environment.

“The company has a strong dedication to proactively and promptly keeping the business up and running with a solid business continuity management plan, along with an intensive prepared disruption response plan and strict adherence to the government’s health and safety measures,” he said.

Cambodia imported 879,394 tonnes of building materials worth $317.74 million in Q1 to help stabilise the industry in anticipation of the impact made by the pandemic, data from the Ministry of Commerce shows.

Broken down by category, the Kingdom imported 100,440 tonnes of steel worth $66.83 million, cement (384,609 tonnes / $24.57 million) and construction equipment (394,346 tonnes / $226.34 million), data from the Department of Planning Statistics and Trade Information under the ministry’s General Department of Domestic Trade shows.

The Kingdom imported 4,667,077 tonnes of building materials worth $1.70 billion last year, up from 3,181,142 tonnes worth $1.07 billion in 2018.