Hungary: Holcim's Hungarian subsidiary Holcim Hungaria Zrt plans to close its cement plant in Labatlan in 2013. 94 employees will be affected by the decision to stop production at the wet kiln plant.
Holcim Hungaria Zrt originally planned to shut the 144 year-old plant by 2010 but its lifetime had previously been extended by environment-friendly investments of almost Euro1.76m to 2016. In a press release the company blamed the downturn of Hungary's construction industry for the closure.
Holcim employed more than 500 people at its cement, concrete and aggregates plants in Hungary in 2010, and 413 at the end of 2011. Its combined revenue in Hungary exceeded Euro84.7m in 2010, but this fell to Euro63.2m in 2011.
At the end of 2011 Holcim Hungaria Zrt indefinitely shelved a plan to build a cement plant in Nyergesujfalu that was designed to replace the plant in Labatlan. It also postponed the construction of a cement distribution base in Dabas, near Budapest.