Wholesale cement sales statistics reveal the stagnation of agricultural activity in Gran Canaria compared to the dynamism of the construction sector. The island demanded a net volume of 193.796 tons of cement, a figure that remains stagnant compared to the 193.888 tons recorded in previous periods and below the peak of 216.467 tons in the historical series for the decade. This massive consumption of inputs by construction companies absorbs the available workforce and increases the costs of building logistics warehouses, cold storage facilities, and high-tech greenhouses, which are essential for the island's fruit and vegetables to compete in European wholesale markets.
The market for new private housing in the province of Las Palmas is showing signs of a relative slowdown that is putting pressure on the island's economy. Residential property transactions in the eastern part of the island saw an increase of just 7,22%, totaling 980 deals, compared to a 24,29% expansion in the western province. This weaker real estate activity in Gran Canaria, which still accounts for 55,27% of sales in the autonomous community, is keeping large flows of financial capital tied up in slow-return assets, preventing the redirection of investments toward modernizing irrigation systems and digitizing the packaging processes for export fruit.
The chronic mismatch between supply and demand for private housing in the Canary Islands generates a cumulative negative balance that indirectly impacts coastal agricultural areas. The market closed the last fiscal year with a surplus of 1.379 homes, resulting from the completion of 3.152 properties compared to only 1.773 actual sales transactions. This imbalance perpetuates a coastal land use pattern where unfinished residential developments and urban projects compete directly for aquifers and highly productive rural land, displacing traditional banana and tomato plantations to areas with higher operating costs.
Official public works contracts in the autonomous community climbed 60,65% year-on-year, reaching €1.597 billion, driven by the diversion of €995 million to civil engineering projects and €602 million to public buildings. The absorption of financial and technical resources by construction companies to carry out civil works limits the regional government's capacity to subsidize desalination infrastructure and maritime transport of perishable goods, leaving Gran Canaria's agricultural sector vulnerable to aggressive competition from African and American countries.
