Amrize launched its 'Product of Canada' label last week. This follows a few other recent news stories in the sector that touch upon a nationalistic approach to cement marketing. What’s been going on?
The US-based cement company has its headquarters in Chicago, Illinois in the US. However, it was keen to release its ‘Product of Canada’ cement label on 17 March 2026 to offer “builders the assurance of Canadian-made manufacturing and quality, supporting local jobs and communities.” The marking is intended to signify that everything to do with the product is made in Canada from raw materials, to processing to manufacturing and on to conforming to local standards. The company operates five cement plants in Canada. The new label will be rolled out, starting with the Exshaw cement plant in Alberta and the Bath cement plant in Ontario. Amrize’s adjusted earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell by 5.5% year-on-year to US$3.01bn in 2025 from US$3.18bn in 2024. Overall revenues rose slightly, but they fell slightly in Canada.
A similar approach was advocated by UK-based Breedon Group earlier in March 2026 with the launch of its British Cement Advocacy campaign. Breedon is calling for government intervention to support the sector. Its view is that government aims to build new homes and that infrastructure cannot happen without cement. It has asked to establish a carbon border adjustment mechanism, address wider competitiveness challenges, accelerate support for carbon capture technologies and promote domestically produced cement for public procurement. It noted it runs over 300 sites in the UK and that around a quarter of British Members of Parliament have a Breedon operation in their constituencies. Breedon Group’s profit fell by 13% year-on-year to €97m in 2025 from €111m, in 2024.
Meanwhile, the narrative over the branding of cement took a twist in Uganda. Earlier in March 2026 residents of the Karamoja sub-region complained to local press after cement being produced at the new (and local) Moroto integrated plant started being branded as Yaobai Cement. The locals had previously been annoyed that cement made by Tororo Cement used Tororo branding despite the raw materials being sourced in Karamoja. However, the new plant at Moroto has been built by China-based West International Holding. They invested US$300m in the project. Understandably, perhaps, West International Holding may have felt that given the scale of their investment they might be able to use the name of their well-established international cement subsidiary, Yaobai International Holding. It produces cement and gypsum-wallboard products in countries including Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique, the Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Uganda and Uzbekistan.
The examples above demonstrate that people can take where their cement is from pretty seriously. In the Amrize case, one should note the backlash in Canada against US products in response to US tariffs in 2025. The BBC reported at the start of 2026, for example, that Canadians were buying more local products. Amrize said in its annual report for 2025 that “We see increasingly domestic-focused agendas both in the US and Canada. Each country is prioritising national investments and domestic materials…” In the UK the construction materials market is currently in a slump. The Mineral Products Association (MPA) said in February 2026 that demand for "core construction materials remained stuck at “alarmingly weak levels.” Breedon Group’s advocacy makes sense in opposition to competition from imports and impending carbon tax rules. Finally, the situation in Uganda shows that people care about local manufacturing regardless of where the money comes from. Hopefully this is merely a public relations issue and both parties can jointly get behind products from the new factory.
