Business
UK cement production drops to lowest levels since 1950s
Pritti Mistry & Simon BrowningBusiness reporters, BBC News
Getty ImagesUK cement production has fallen to its lowest level since 1950, putting the government’s house building plan at risk, a trade body has warned.
Cement is the key binding ingredient in concrete, which is the most widely used material in the construction industry, and mortar.
The Mineral Products Association (MPA) said production levels were “increasingly under threat” due to high energy, regulatory and labour costs.
The Department for Business and Trade said it recognised challenges in the sector and its Industrial Strategy was increasing help for energy-intense companies, which include cement manufacturers.
The Labour government has pledged to build 1.5 million new homes in England by 2029 as part of efforts to solve the housing crisis and boost economic growth.
Under a separate investment strategy unveiled in June, Chancellor Rachel Reeves pledged to pour £725bn over the next decade into maintaining existing infrastructure and building new projects.
But the UK made just 7.3 million tonnes of cement in 2024, according to the MPA, which represents manufacturers of products such as asphalt and cement.
The trade body said that was about half of that produced in 1990 and similar to production levels seen when rationing was still in place following the World War Two.
MPA executive director Dr Diana Casey said the decline threatened to derail the government’s ambitions for housing, infrastructure and clean energy projects.
“[You] can’t build houses, bridges or railways without us,” she told the BBC.
“So the fact production has declined so much at a level since 1950 is worrying,” she continued, adding that it “could impact government targets like homes and hospitals and power plants that are due to be built”.
The MPA said a project such as the Sizewell C nuclear power plant could need up to 750,000 tonnes of cement and a new hospital would require nearly 8,000 tonnes.
A traditional four-bedroom home needs between three and five tonnes.
The MPA said production had fallen due to rising costs and changes to carbon taxation, which reduced market competitiveness and was a major concern to the sector.
It also highlighted the growth of cheaper cement import sales nearly tripling over the past 16 years, from 12% in 2008 to 32% in 2024.
Ms Casey said more action was needed to cut electricity prices, which were “disproportionately affecting the industry”.
“[The] UK is uncompetitive because of high costs – energy particularly – and regulatory burden because of carbon, therefore it is cheaper to import cement,” she said.
“We’re calling on the government to help put domestic production on a level playing field so that it can compete fairly with imports.”
In a statement, the Department for Business and Trade said: “We recognise the cement sector faces challenges which is why our modern Industrial Strategy is increasing support for energy-intensive firms through our Supercharger scheme, which will slash energy prices for eligible businesses.”
According to the MPA, about 40% of British cement is manufactured in the Peak District, with the rest of the production spread across the UK.
The trade body fears jobs could be at risk and “disappear in the future” if imports rise.
Rico Wojtulewicz, head of policy and market insights at the National Federation of Builders, said it was getting harder for construction firms, because there were many stalled projects which meant there was a reduced need for locally manufactured cement.
Building costs had also continued to rise, he added, which was pushing smaller builders out of the sector and driving others to find savings.
“They are all looking for better priced materials,” he said.
Gig economy platform Fiverr is laying off 250 employees as it pivots to being an “AI-first company,” CEO Micha Kaufman shared in an essay on X. The move affects around 30 percent of the company’s staff, The Register writes, and it’s not uncommon among tech companies in 2025. Duolingo announced similar plans to become “AI-first” in April.
Kaufman describes this process as returning to “startup mode” and writes that his ultimate goal is to turn Fiverr into “an AI-first company that’s leaner, faster, with a modern AI-focused tech infrastructure, a smaller team, each with substantially greater productivity, and far fewer management layers.” Part of the justification Kaufman offers for why Fiverr doesn’t “need as many people to operate the existing business” is that the company has already integrated AI into its customer support and fraud detection programs.
The first sign that Fiverr might justify layoffs with AI came when Kaufman was interviewed by CBS News in May 2025 about the danger the technology posed to employees. Kaufman specifically advised employees to “automate 100 percent” of what they do with AI, while also claiming that wouldn’t make them replaceable because they were still capable of “non-linear thinking” and “judgement calls.” That advice doesn’t seem like it was ultimately helpful for Fiverr’s own employees.
The company’s cuts affect fewer people than a larger firm like Workday, who announced plans to eliminate 1,750 roles in February 2025. Regardless of the size of the company or its level of investment in AI, though, layoffs have the same effect: More work has to be done by fewer people.
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The next big battleground for podcasts is video — and YouTube wants to cement its dominance.
On Tuesday, YouTube announced a slate of new AI products as it seeks to solidify itself as the leader in the category over competitors like Spotify or Apple.
Starting next year, audio-first podcasters will be able to generate video clips for YouTube from their audio transcripts. The tool uses Google’s Veo AI technology to generate short 30-second to 60-second visuals that can either become a YouTube short or a part of a long-form video upload. The feature will initially be available to a limited set of US podcasters.
The target audience? Audio podcasters with little to no video experience.
There is a class of podcast creators who are not gifted in video or who “don’t want to make the conversation awkward by having four or five cameras in a studio,” T. Jay Fowler, YouTube’s senior director of product management focused on podcasts and music, told Business Insider.
AI-generated video could make it easier for those creators to get started on YouTube, Fowler said.
“You can imagine some partners or podcasters thinking, ‘Oh, getting on YouTube is a big hurdle,'” he said. “It is a video-centric platform. And so this will also help ease people into the experience. They can dip their toe.”
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YouTube emerged as the top player in podcasting by hosting a slate of talk-show style channels from creators like Rhett & Link, Theo Von, and Joe Rogan. About a third of weekly podcast consumers in the US prefer YouTube, beating out all rivals, according to a January report from Edison Research.
But the company is a less natural fit for podcasts that aren’t talk shows and aren’t easily adapted to video. YouTube thinks these new AI tools can help it make inroads there.
Adding video could help audio-focused podcasters meet consumer demand. The share of US adults who said they preferred video podcasts hit 42% in August 2024, up from 32% in October 2022, per a Morning Consult report from October.
Spotify made a big push into video last year and told investors in July that consumption of video podcasts was growing 20 times faster than audio alone. Even Netflix is looking to get into the game. It’s held exploratory meetings with creators and sought to hire a video podcast executive.
But YouTube has a clear head start in the category as a native video platform with a well-established creator ad revenue sharing model. The company’s TikTok-like short-video feature, shorts, can also serve as a marketing tool for podcast creators. Forty-four percent of new podcast audiences begin listening on YouTube, according to a June report from Cumulus Media and Signal Hill Insights.
On Tuesday, YouTube announced an additional AI-powered tool to help creators clip highlights from their video podcasts for YouTube shorts. Clipping has become an increasingly important marketing tool for podcasters and other long-form creators. The feature will roll out in the coming months, the company said.
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