Displaying items by tag: Buzzi
Buzzi buys 50% stake in Brazilian player
07 September 2018Brazil: Italy’s Buzzi Unicem has announced that it has reached an agreement to buy a 50% stake in the Brazilian company BCPAR from Grupo Ricardo Brennand for Euro150m. BCPAR operates two integrated cement plants, one in the north east state of Paraíba and one in the south east state of Minas Gerais. The Minas Gerais plant started operations in May 2011 and has an annual production capacity of 2.4Mt/yr of cement. The Paraíba plant was commissioned in August 2015 and it has a capacity of 1.7Mt/yr. Buzzi Unicem will retain the right to buy the remaining 50% of BCPAR from Ricardo Brennand until 1 January 2025.
Buzzi Unicem said in a press release that the agreement reached allows it to extend its industrial operations to the largest economy in South America and improve the geographical diversification of its regional presence. Buzzi Unicem believes that the current downturn in the Brazilian economy, and in particular of the local cement industry, can be positively resolved, starting from 2019. It adds that Brazil's key macroeconomic data concerning cement production are encouraging. The population is expected to grow at an average rate of 1.1%/yr and per capita cement consumption is currently at its lowest levels in years.
GCCA expands to 16 members
04 September 2018UK: The Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA) reports that it continues to grow, with the addition of several new member companies from Europe, South America and Asia. In August 2018 there were six new members: Buzzi Unicem, Cementos Argos, Cementos Pacasmayo, Çimsa Çimento, SCG Cement and Titan Cement. The GCCA also welcomed the US Portland Cement Association (PCA) as an Affiliate.
Albert Manifold, GCCA President (and CEO of CRH) said, “We are delighted to welcome further cement and concrete companies and like-minded organisations to the GCCA. The GCCA was set up to provide the authoratitive global voice for this essential sector. With every new member, the voice becomes even stronger.”
The new members and affiliates join 10 existing member companies: Cemex, CNBM, CRH, Dangote Cement, Eurocement, HeidelbergCement, LafargeHolcim, Taiheiyo Cement, UltraTech Cement and Votorantim. Further applications for member and affiliate status have been received and are being processed.
Plant worker dies on first day
10 August 2018Italy: A 37-year old maintenance worker died on 9 August 2018 at the Buzzi Cement plant at Fanna, Pordenone, Italy. It was his first day on the job. Initial investigations have indicated that he was electrocuted by touching live electrical equipment. Investigations continue.
Italy: Buzzi Unicem’s sales revenue and earnings have suffered from negative currency effects in the first half of 2018. Its net sales fell by 1.2% year-on-year to Euro1.34bn from Euro1.35bn and its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell by 5.7% to Euro227m from Euro241m. However, its cement sales volumes grew by 3.8% to 12.9Mt from 12.5Mt. By region the cement producer reported that its net sales rose in Italy, Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland and the US. Net sales fell in Luxembourg, Netherlands, Ukraine and Mexico.
US: Welding Alloys has released information about a project to rebuild a FCB Horomill at Buzzi Unicem’s Maryneal cement plant in Texas in early 2018. The engineering company’s Mexican subsidiary Welding Alloys Panamericana has experience of rebuilding these types of mills and it collaborated with the group’s American wing, Welding Alloys USA, on the project.
Italian court confirms fines for cement producers
14 June 2018Italy: The Administrative Regional Court of Lazio has confirmed fines on local cement producers for cartel-like behaviour after an appeal process. Italcementi has been fined Euro84m, Buzzi Unicem has been fined Euro60m and Cementi Moccia has been fined Euro0.69m, according to the ANSA news agency.
The Italian Competition Authority (AGCM) originally imposed total fines of over Euro180m in late 2017 upon Italcementi, Buzzi Unicem, Colacem, Cementir, Sacci, Holcim, Cementirossi, Barbetti, Cementeria di Monselice, Cementizillo, Calme, Cementi Moccia, TSC and the Italian Cement Association (AITEC) for allegedly coordinating sales prices and agreeing market share from June 2011 to January 2016. The other cement companies are currently awaiting the outcome of their own appeals.
Buzzi Unicem’s sales drop in first quarter
11 May 2018Italy: Buzzi Unicem’s sales fell by 8.4% year-on-year to Euro539m in the first quarter of 2018 from Euro589m in the same period in 2017. Its cement sales fell by 1.6% to 5.1Mt from 5.2Mt. It blamed poor weather and reduced working days in the reporting period. Sales volumes in Eastern Europe performed well due to favourable trends in the Czech Republic and Russia. Sales in Italy improved due to the consolidation of Cementizillo into the group.
Cement Hranice cement sales rise on exports in 2017
30 April 2018Czech Republic: Cement Hranice’s cement sales rose by nearly 9% year-on-year in 2017 due to despatches to fellow subsidiaries of Buzzi Unicem in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Its overall sales rose by 6.3% to Euro61.5m from Euro57.9m, according to the Czech News Agency. Board member Roman Michalcik said that the local construction sector had grown in 2017 due to good weather towards the end of the period and large local infrastructure projects.
Roadblocks remain in the US?
14 March 2018The latest data from the United States Geological Survey (USGS) shows that cement shipments rose by 2.4% year-on-year to 95.5Mt in 2017. Readers with elephantine memories may remember that the Portland Cement Association (PCA) revised its forecast for 2017 down to 3.1% from 4.2% in a release made in late 2016. Shipments and consumption are different metrics but the PCA was heading in the right direction. Unfortunately, however ebullient the PCA’s chief economist Ed Sullivan was at the IEEE-PCA in 2017 about growth in the US in 2018 and 2019, the necessary rise required seems quite steep. President Donald Trump may have handed the major cement producers a tax break but until his infrastructure spending materializes the US construction industry is on its own.
Graph 1: Clinker production in the US, 2013 – 2017. Source: USGS.
Viewing the US as a whole is a little unfair given its wide regional variation. As can be seen in Graph 1 clinker production jumped up from 2013 to a high of 76.5Mt in 2015 before taking a dip in 2016 and then rising again to 76.9Mt in 2017. Cement shipments of Ordinary Portland and blended cement show a similar trend over the same timescale except without the decrease in 2016. Interestingly, imports of cement and clinker rose by 18% to 13.6Mt in that year. The major exporters to the US were Canada, Greece, China and Turkey, in that order.
Graph 2: Cement and clinker imported for consumption to the US in 2017 by country. Source: USGS.
From a producer perspective LafargeHolcim described 2017 as a ‘disappointing’ year, with overall net sales down slightly on a like-for-like basis. The group remained optimistic for 2018 though, with its hopes pinned on rising employment and housing construction. HeidelbergCement rode high on its acquisition of Italcementi’s local subsidiary Essroc, which enabled it to grow its business in the northeast and midwest. Its cement sales volumes rose by 2.3% to 4.1Mt. CRH noted similar cement sales volume growth of 3% and attributed this to stronger demand. Its business also benefited from the acquisition of Suwannee American Cement with its 1Mt/yr cement plant in Florida. Further growth to its production base is also expected soon as it completes its acquisition of Ash Grove Cement.
By contrast Buzzi Unicem reported a tougher year with its net sales barely increasing from 2016 to 2017. It blamed a tough first half of the year for this as well as weather-related issues due to Hurricane Harvey and then snow in December 2017. Cemex too reported harder conditions in the US, with cement sales volumes down by 6% for the year. Although on a like-for-like basis with plant sales excluded it reported this as a rise of 2%. Again, it blamed the weather but it did note an increase in residential housing construction as the year progressed.
In this kind of mixed environment for cement producers no wonder the PCA backed or, perhaps more accurately, reminded the President of his pledge to spend US$1.5tn to be invested in infrastructure. As per usual the PCA forecasts fair weather ahead for the US industry once the latest roadblock is overcome. At the last assessment it was inflationary pressure. As ever the government opening its cheque book to build things is exactly what the industry needs to build on its promise. Until then expect more of the same. One more thing to consider though is that the Trump administration is also trying to change the ratio of federal-to-state funding for cross-state infrastructure projects. If the states end up having to pay more money for these kinds of projects these may end up running out of funds, delaying or cancelling them. Counting on that infrastructure spend may be unwise until if or when the cement orders come piling in.
Germany: Italy’s Buzzi Unicem, though its German subsidiary Dyckerhoff, has signed a purchase agreement to acquire Portlandzementwerke Seibel & Söhne. The completion of the transfer of shares is subject to the clearance of the German Federal Cartel Authority and is expected within the next weeks. Portlandzementwerke Seibel & Söhne operates a cement plant in Erwitte, North Rhine-Westphalia. No value for the deal has been disclosed.