Cement Growth in Africa

CEMENT sales in the Southern African Customs Union rose 7,6% in July as builders accelerated work on roads and infrastructure needed for the 2010 Fifa World Cup.
Sales in South Africa, Lesotho, Botswana, Namibia and Swaziland rose to 1,38m metric tons from 1,28m tons a year earlier, Cement & Concrete Institute Marketing Manager John Sheath said in an interview yesterday.
The Government has awarded more contracts for roads, stadiums and rail projects needed for the world cup, which it's hosting for the first time. Cement purchases by civil engineering companies such as Murray & Roberts have climbed 22% this year, almost double the pace of the wider market, Sheath said.
"It's very much non-residential activity and infrastructure spending by the government," Sheath said. Members of the institute include Lafarge SA and Holcim, the world's biggest cement companies. The others are Portugal's Cimpor-Cimentos de Portugal SGPS SA and Pretoria Portland Cement, Africa's largest cement producer. Much of the cement is imported as well there just is not enough production capacity in Africa.
A big question is whether this growth will be sustained beyond 2010 as all of the growth is non housing related.
This leads me to comment on the fact that all cement news seems to be focused on Africa, India, China, Malaysia. Is this because we aren't building in Europe and in North America? Or are we self sufficient?