Following on from last week's analysis column (Global Cement Weekly #107: Gimmie Water - water conservation in the cement industry) Irish cement producer CRH has released its 2012 Sustainability Report.
Unfortunately, no comparable figures for water usage per cement production were published and CRH noted usage measurement as a group objective. Its best estimate was that the group used 36Mm3 of water in 2012, with 12% of that figure (4.4Mm3) used in cement production.
Otherwise plenty of good news filled the report with improvements shown for most of the key indicators. Notably chief executive office Myles Lee pointed out that CRH had substantially increased alternative fuel usage in its European cement operations in 2012 and that this helped with rising energy costs.
Sticking with CRH, the Irish cement producer recently released information on its development strategy for the first half of 2013.
Despite - or perhaps because – of decreasing profits in 2012, CRH's development spend has nearly doubled year-on-year to Euro470m from Euro250m. The increase is mainly due to the asset swap with Cementos Portland Valderrivas (CPV), which was announced in February 2013. CRH agreed to transfer a 26% stake in Corporacion Uniland to CPV. In return, CPV agreed to transfer its 99% stake in Cementos Lemona to CRH, as well as giving CRH its UK-based cement importer Southern Cement.
In its press release CPV specifically mentioned that the asset swap would reduce its exposure to the Spanish cement market. On CRH's side the inclusion into the deal of a UK cement importer may be incidental but having an additional destination for potential excess Spanish cement production capacity can only be prudent.
Elsewhere this week, Turkmenistan's decision to protect domestic cement production with a 100% import duty raises interesting implications for exporters in the region such as Iran. It is unclear whether Turkmenistan is blocking Iranian exports altogether or just taxing them more. Either way, following news of a Iraqi block on Iranian exports, it seems likely to dent Iran's ambition to reach 18Mt of exports in the 2013 – 2014 Iranian calendar year, which will end on 20 March 2014.