THE INDUSTRY AT A GLANCE
The aggregate and concrete products industry is a strategically essential sector of the Irish economy. The majority of the industry’s output is used in the Irish construction industry – constructing Ireland’s housing stock, transport networks, commercial and industrial buildings, utilities, schools and hospitals, the list is endless!
The industry is made up of quarries, readymix concrete manufacturers and precast concrete manufacturers located the length and breadth of Ireland. The Irish Concrete Federation has 74 members and associate members operating at approximately 300 locations throughout the country, representing an estimated 80% of industry output. The following are some interesting statistics about the industry:
There are approximately 350 large commercial quarries operating in Ireland.
There are approximately 220 readymix concrete manufacturing plants in Ireland.
There was approximately 33 million tonnes of aggregates produced for sale in 2017 from Irish quarries. Of this, approximately 7 million tonnes was sand and gravel and the remainder was crushed rock.
In 2017, there was approximately 4.3 million cubic-metres of ready mixed concrete consumed in Ireland. There is capacity to produce up to 8 million cubic-metres of readymix concrete in Ireland.
There were approximately 120 million concrete blocks produced in Ireland in 2017.
There are approximately 5,000 people directly employed in the aggregates and concrete products industry in Ireland.
Exports of precast concrete products from Ireland to the UK grew from €0 in 2006 to an estimated €134m in 2017.
In 2017 the Irish concrete industry consumed in excess of 1.7 million tonnes of cement and ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS).
The majority of aggregate and concrete products companies are local businesses, with an average delivery distance to market of approximately 35km.
In 2017 there was approximately 0.75 million tonnes of agricultural lime produced by Irish Quarries.