Displaying items by tag: Egypt

Egypt: Misr Beni Suef's sales were US$51.1m in the first nine months of 2022, up by 77% year-on-year from US$28.8m. Nonetheless, the producer recorded a loss of US$15.9m, compared to a profit of US$3.4m during the corresponding period of 2021.

Greece: Titan Group says that strong sales in the third quarter of 2022 has driven its performance so far in 2022. Its sales rose by 32% year-on-year to Euro1.66bn in the first nine months of 2022 from Euro1.26bn in the same period in 2021. Its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBIDTA) grew by 7% to Euro235m from Euro220m. It attributed its sales growth to higher sales volumes and higher prices more than sufficiently offsetting growing energy and transport costs. Strong performance was reported in the US and construction market was described as recovering in Greece. Elsewhere, high energy costs were said to be reducing demand in Southeast Europe, market problems in Turkey continued but the group raised its prices and increased exports, saes volumes increased in Egypt and a decline was noted in Brazil.

Egypt: Cemex’s chief executive officer (CEO) Fernando A González was part of the First Movers Coalition panel at the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27) in Sharm El Sheikh on 8 November 2022. He participated alongside the World Economic Forum’s president Borge Brende, Microsoft president Brad Smith, ReNew chair and managing director Sumant Sinha, Volvo Group chief purchasing officer Andrea Fuder and US Special Climate Envoy John Kerry.

Cemex is a founding member of the First Movers Coalition, a partnership between the World Economic Forum and the US Office of the Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, John Kerry. It is the only buyers’ club working to scale new technologies across the heavy industry and heavy-duty transport sectors.

As a First Movers Coalition member, Cemex committed to making 32% of its heavy-duty transport purchases zero emissions by 2030. This commitment aligns with the company’s ambitious goals of reducing transport carbon emissions by 30% by 2030 and becoming net zero by 2050, part of its Future in Action program to achieve sustainable excellence and become a net zero CO₂ company.

This commitment is particularly challenging, as zero-emission heavy-duty transport is presently unavailable at scale. At the panel, Fernando A Gonzalez talked about how collaboration and innovation are at the core of his company’s efforts. Cemex is already piloting fully electric concrete mixer trucks with partners like Volvo. It is also investing in transition technologies such as natural gas, replacing 200 diesel trucks with this lower-emission alternative in 2022.

Cemex will a host a discussion panel called Working Together to Decarbonise the Construction Value Chain, to be moderated by Thomas Guillot, chief executive of the Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA), on 10 November 2022. The panelists will include Diane Hoskins (Gensler Co), Aniruddha Sharma (Carbon Clean), Hubertus Meinecke (BCG) and Adair Turner (Energy Transitions Commission), in addition to Cemex’s Fernando A González.

Egypt: Arabian Cement Company (ACC) has signed an amendment to its 2019 contract with Amarenco SolarizEgypt (ASE) to establish a solar photovoltaic (PV) unit at its Suez plant. The amendment to the agreement aligns with updated regulations recently issued by the Egyptian Electric Utility and Consumer Protection Regulatory Agency (EgyptERA) to encourage and support self-built solar energy projects as Egypt hosts the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27) in Sharm El Sheikh.

ACC already generates 20.6MW of power from a solar PV plant, representing 3% of its total power needs and saving 5500t/yr of CO₂. Construction of a second site, capable of saving 13,000t/yr of CO₂, will now begin in early 2023. The actual commissioning and start-up of operations is expected in September 2023.

“As part of our sustainable development strategy, we are continually assessing opportunities to develop Egypt’s cement industry with projects that integrate sustainable and environment-friendly solutions and renewable energy resources given their significant environmental, social impact and on the economy at large,” said Sergio Alcantarilla, the chief executive officer of ACC.

Egypt: South Valley Cement has posted a 41.5% year-on-year decline in its net loss after tax during the first nine months of 2022, according to a statement filed to the Egyptian Exchange. The company incurred a net loss of US$3.42m in the January - September period of 2022, compared to a loss of US$5.88m in the same period in 2021. Sales from its cement segment surged to US$25.2m from US$7.43m previously.

Italy: Cementir Holding sold 8.2Mt of cement and clinker during the first nine months of 2022, down by 1.7% year-on-year from nine-month 2021 levels. China, Denmark, Egypt and Türkiye all contributed to the decline. Group nine-month revenues were Euro1.26bn, up by 25% year-on-year. Third-quarter 2022 revenues rose most sharply, by 45%, in Türkiye, followed by the US (38%), the Nordic and Baltic region (20%) and Belgium (17%). During the third quarter of the year, operating costs increased by 36% to Euro365m from Euro268m. Raw materials, fuels and transport costs all contributed to the rise.

In the first nine months of 2022, the group recorded earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of Euro238m, up by 11% from Euro215m during the first nine months of 2021.

Egypt: Suez Cement has partnered with Intro Power and Utilities for the construction of a 20MW solar power plant at its Suez cement plant. From its commissioning in early-mid-2023, the installation will provide the plant with 45GWh of energy annually, 20% of its annual consumption. Suez Cement says that this will eliminate 22,000t/yr-worth of CO₂ emissions. Construction is expected to cost US$350m and commence in 2023.

Suez cement aims to achieve specific CO₂ emissions of 400kg/t of cementitious product by 2030, down by 47% from 1990 levels.

Managing director Mohamed Hegazy said “Through transitioning to renewable solar energy, we are looking at long-term economic benefits, laying the foundation for a low-carbon business and energy security, without jeopardising the health of our environment. We are proud about this new milestone and to be one of the few cement players in Egypt taking this step towards using a more affordable and cleaner energy."

Egypt: The government has raised the price of gas to cement producers by 109% from US$5.75/one million British thermal units (BTU) to US$12/MBTU. South Valley Cement, Misr Cement Qena, Misr Beni Suef Cement, and Sinai Cement all said that the higher gas prices would not affect the cost of production because they have switched to using coal, according to the Daily news Egypt newspaper.

Spain: Oficemen has blamed falling exports of cement on high electricity prices. The cement association reports that exports fell by around 25% year-on-year to 3.76Mt for the first eight months of 2022 from over 5Mt in the same period in 2021. Local consumption of cement slowed to an increase of just 0.2% to 9.88Mt from 9.86Mt.

Aniceto Zaragoza, the general director of Oficemen, said “Electricity costs in our sector have increased by 400% in the last two years, a situation that worsens every day due to the energy crisis we are suffering. Without competitive electricity costs, it is impossible for our industry, which for many years has led the cement export market, to continue competing with other producers in the Mediterranean area that pay much less for their energy inputs, such as Algeria, Turkey or Egypt.”

Egypt: Private investor Sadiq Ahmed Sadiq El Sewedy has enlarged their stake in Arabian Cement to 11% from 9.5%. The investor paid US$1.6m for the additional shares. Al Ahly Pharos and EFG Hermes Holding provided brokerage services for the deal.

Arabian Cement recorded a profit of US$6.17m in the first half of 2022, compared to a US$1.2m loss in the first half of 2021.