China National Building Material (CNBM) saw its stock price plummet 5.08% during intraday trading on Monday, following approximately 5% gains in each of the two prior trading sessions.

The decline reflects significant fundamental headwinds facing the cement industry. Among 19 listed cement companies, only 6 achieved profitability in the first quarter, with some industry leaders reporting single-quarter losses exceeding 1 billion yuan. National clinker capacity utilization remains below 50%, with many production lines in full or partial shutdown.

Cement inventory-to-capacity ratio rose to 68.2% in May, up 4.1 percentage points year-over-year, while real estate development investment declined 13.7% year-over-year during January-April. Infrastructure investment growth has also decelerated, undermining cement demand. Despite enterprises expressing strong pricing intentions amid cost pressures from rising coal prices, the market remains skeptical about the sustainability of price hikes given persistent demand weakness and elevated inventories.