The island of La Palma experiences the largest loss in cement sales in the Canary Islands during the first half of 2026, with a decline of over 7%, according to ISTAC. The overall archipelago grows by 7.8%.
The Canary Islands Statistics Institute (ISTAC) published the wholesale cement sales data for the first half of 2026 on Monday, and the picture it paints for La Palma is concerning. The island records a drop of over 7% compared to the same period last year, the worst figure in the entire archipelago. Meanwhile, the Canary Islands sold 316,001.5 tonnes, an increase of 7.8% compared to 2025.
El Hierro and Lanzarote on the rise
At the opposite end are El Hierro and Lanzarote, which see their sales soar: the island of El Hierro grows by nearly 48%, and Lanzarote by 31.2%. They are the two engines of regional growth, contrasting with the reality of La Palma and La Gomera, the only islands where sales are declining. La Gomera falls by nearly 6%.
“Cement is not sold to be stored: each tonne that leaves a cement plant for a construction site is an indication of ongoing construction activity,” explain sources from ISTAC.
The data for La Palma does not allow for the identification of the exact cause. It may be due to less public works underway, the pace of private projects, or simply the effect of comparing with an especially high semester in 2025. What is certain is that the island has accumulated six months with the weakest pulse of the construction sector in the archipelago.
General acceleration in June
Only in June, 62,921.4 tonnes of cement were sold throughout the archipelago, almost 15% more than in the same month of 2025. This points to a general acceleration heading into summer, although ISTAC does not break down the monthly data for June by islands, so it is not possible to know if this trend also reached La Palma.
For the reader from La Palma, the question is clear: what is happening with construction on the island? The ISTAC data is an indirect thermometer, but it does not provide answers. We will have to wait for the coming months to see if the decline consolidates or if it was a temporary bump. Meanwhile, the contrast with El Hierro and Lanzarote, where activity is booming, leaves La Palma in an uncomfortable position within the archipelago.
ISTAC has been publishing this statistic monthly since 2009, island by island, as one of the fastest ways to detect whether the construction sector is accelerating or slowing down before it is reflected in other slower statistics, such as employment or GDP. For the residents of La Palma, the cement data is a warning: if the trend continues, it could translate into less employment and less economic activity in the coming quarters.
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