Displaying items by tag: Spain
Votorantim Cimentos to buy Cementos Balboa in Spain
30 June 2021Spain: Votorantim Cimentos has agreed to buy Cementos Balboa from US-based investment company KKR for an undisclosed sum. The producer operates a 1.6Mt/yr integrated plant at Alconera in Badajoz, Extremadura that started production in 2005. The purchase is subject to regulatory approval in Spain.
“This transaction exemplifies our strategy for growth and positioning in Spain and reinforces our presence in the country,” says Marcelo Castelli, global chief executive officer of Votorantim Cimentos. The Brazilian-based company has been present in Spain since 2012 and currently operates four integrated cement plants, two grinding plants, a mortar plant and several concrete and aggregates plants, operating in the regions of Andalusia, the Canary Islands, Castile and León, Extremadura and Galicia .
Spain: Cementos Molins has completed the acquisition of a white cement terminal in the Port of Alicante from Turkey-based Çimsa. The unit includes a 10,000t silo and it will be able to supply over 50,000t/yr from the site. The producer also plans to use the terminal to bolster exports from its 0.7Mt/yr integrated white cement plant at Kairaouan in Tunisia, which is operated by subsidiary Société Tuniso-Andalouse de Ciment Blanc (SOTACIB). It distributes products from this plant to over 15 countries.
Balearic Environmental Commission tightens requirements on Cemex’s Lloseta cement plant’s licence
18 June 2021Spain: The Balearic Environmental Commission has set more stringent environmental requirements than previously in its authorisation of Cemex’s Lloseta plant’s licence to operate. The Diario de Mallorca newspaper has reported that the authority has followed standards set out by European Commission decisions. The requirements cover emissions, dust and hazardous waste volumes.
Spain: The total CO2 emissions of cement and clinker production in Spain fell by 14% year-on-year in 2020. The El Economista newspaper has reported that a report by the Sustainability Observatory recorded that 10 Spanish companies were responsible for emitting 51Mt of CO2 in 2020 or 56% of the national total.
Brazil: ABG Mineração, which is majority owned by Spain-based La Union Cements, plant to invest US$296m in establishing a cement plant and limestone mine in Mossoró, Rio Grande do Norte. Portal N10 has reported the production capacity of the plant as 1Mt/yr. The company expects that it will generate 300 direct jobs and US$138m/yr in sales.
Spain: Turkey-based Çimsa Çimento intends to complete its acquisition of Cemex’s Buñol white cement plant in June 2021. Local government says that the purchase agreement has been in place since 2019 but has delayed by the international nature of the deal and competition concerns, according to Agencia EFE. Çimsa Çimento agreed to buy Cemex’s white cement business in Spain, including its Buñol plant, for around US$180m in March 2019. It was originally scheduled for completion in the second half of 2019.
Cemex España launches Vertua low-carbon cement
26 May 2021Spain: Cemex España, part of Mexico-based Cemex, has launched a new CEM-II grey cement with approximately 20% reduced-CO2 direct emissions as part of its Vertua low-carbon product range. The company says that the product provides early strength like a CEM-I cement. It says that this makes it highly suited to precast concrete and infrastructure applications. Cemex says that it will launch the product in other European markets in 2021.
Cemex is committed to 55% emissions reduction by 2030. It said that prior to this commitment it, “had already achieved a close to 35% emissions reduction by 2020.”
Spain: Cement consumption grew by 120% year-on-year to 1.24Mt of cement in April 2021 from 0.57Mt in April 2020. Oficemen, the Spanish cement association, says that the rise continues a pre-coronavirus positive trend, representing an increase of 3% from April 2019 levels. It added that the demand was the highest of any April since 2011. The association nonetheless urged caution in light of a 4% drop in four-month cement demand levels compared with the first four months of 2019, and a more moderate 25% increase year-on-year from 2020 levels.
In April 2021, Spanish producers exported 812,000t of cement, up by 230% from 248,000t in April 2020.
Cemex España reopens Lloseta cement plant
04 May 2021Spain: Cemex España reopened its Lloseta cement plant in Majorca in mid-April 2021. The unit will start by operating at a low production level until demand levels build, according to the El País newspaper. The plant intends to use alternative fuels such as biomass to reduce its CO2 emissions. It is also working with the Power to Green Hydrogen Mallorca project to use ‘green’ hydrogen created partly using solar energy. The plant now employs 20 people, compared to 96 before its closure in January 2019.
Spain: Cementos Molins has reported its third consecutive quarter with a rising profit, having made Euro33m in the first quarter of 2021, some 39% higher year-on-year than in the same period of 2020. Its revenues came to Euro223m, an increase of 16%.
The quarterly performance of revenues was similar to that of the fourth quarter of 2020, with strong activity in all markets except for Spain. Cementos Molins’ earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) for the first quarter came to Euro62m, 30% higher than the same period in 2020. It said that this was achieved due to the positive contributions of the higher cement sales volumes, rising sales prices and the results of efficiency plans that off-set increases in energy costs.