Builders Merchants Journal – BMJ Publishing to Builders Merchants and the UK merchanting industry for more than 95 years
Data from the Mineral Products Association (MPA), show that concrete volumes hit a 62-year low in the second quarter of 2025, fuelling fears of plummeting business confidence.
Ready-mixed concrete volumes dropped by 11.5% to just 2.7 million cubic metres in Q2 2025. Over the last four quarters (Q3 2024 to Q2 2025), total sales were 11.9 Mm³. The last time Britain’s annual concrete volume was this low was 1963. the data also shows asphalt volumes over the last four quarters are the lowest in a decade, and that Aggregates and mortar sales also fell in Q2 2025.
Volumes across all major mineral products other than mortar are now at historically low levels, tracking below last year’s already weak volumes. The MPA is calling for urgent Government action to reignite business confidence to encourage investment and release stalled construction projects.
MPA executive chair, Chris Leese, added: “Many of our members are telling us that the current trading conditions are the most difficult they have ever experienced, including the 2007–08 financial crisis, while in concrete the data shows it’s the worst in a lifetime with no signs of recovery.
“The underlying problem is a total lack of business confidence leading to a lack of investment required to kickstart activity. The mineral products industry literally provides the foundations for the whole economy, employing 80,000 hard-working people in high-value, high-productivity jobs across the country, but in the current climate our members will have no option other than to mothball capacity and rationalise their businesses.
“Construction is a vital force for growth in the UK economy and these sales figures are a clear indicator that action is required. We need action now to unlock stalled projects, back the businesses that will build them, and break out of this cycle of weak growth and high costs. Our members are not only ready to deliver; they are also increasingly impatient for the right conditions that would create the opportunity to do so.”
