22 September 2020

India: Credit rating agency Fitch Ratings has forecast a 15% year-on-year decline in domestic cement demand in the 2021 financial year, which ends on 30 March 2021 due to “weak property demand and a sluggish construction cycle.” Fitch Ratings gave the reasons for the decline as “low consumer confidence caused by business uncertainty and unemployment concerns,” causing “underlying appetites of financial institutions to lend to the construction sector to remain weak” in spite of the Reserve Bank of India’s temporary funding relief measures to the sector, which include “loan restructuring, moratoriums and relaxed lending limits.”

Fitch Ratings reported that steel demand will also fall by 10% in the 2021 financial year.

UK: Breedon Group says that it has “continued to deliver an encouraging trading performance since demand began to return in early May 2020 after the Covid-19 lockdown,” recording eight-month sales of Euro580m over the period that ended on 31 August 2020, down by 15% from Euro681 over the corresponding period of 2019. The group says that the figure includes the contributions of its newly acquired Cemex ready-mix and aggregates assets for August 2020.

As a result of this performance, the board reinstated its 2020 guidance, with underlying earnings before interest and taxation (EBIT) for the second half of 2020 anticipated to be in line with that in the second half of 2019. It added, “We continue to be reassured by the UK government's restated commitment to investment in the UK's infrastructure and to encouraging demand from the UK housing market, complemented by similar trends in the Republic of Ireland.”

Norway: The Norwegian government has introduced a bill to parliament to allow funding for industrial scale implementation of HeidelbergCement’s carbon capture and storage (CCS) project at its 1.2Mt/yr Brevik plant in Porsgrunn, Telemark. If enacted, the legislation will provide for the majority of required funding.

HeidelbergCement chair Dominik von Achten, “We are very pleased with the proposal of the Norwegian government. This allows us to continue the pioneering work that we started together with our partners in Brevik. The CCS project in Norway is an important cornerstone in our climate strategy. It will enable us to significantly reduce otherwise unavoidable greenhouse gas emissions related to the cement production process.”

US: Fortune has named Cemex amongst socially impactful companies on its 2020 Change the World list. It gave the reasons for the company’s inclusion as “its efforts in social impact business models. One such initiative was the rapid deployment of solutions to meet the current challenges caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. Working with the Mexican Institute of Social Security and in coordination with more than 20 multi-sectoral partners in Mexico, Cemex built mobile hospitals with highly durable precast antibacterial concrete modules in a record time of two weeks per medical facility. This effort in Mexico will be replicated in other countries where Cemex has operations to contribute to global challenges positively.”

Chief executive officer (CEO) Fernando González said, “Once again, we are honoured by Fortune’s recognition of our efforts to improve the well-being and quality of life of the population. By living our purpose of building a better future and working with our stakeholders, we seek to develop innovative solutions while promoting a sustainable and resilient future.”

Spain: Cementos Portland Valderrivas helped make the Molinos de Guadaíra Special Education Centre (MGSEC) in Alcalá de Guadaíra, Seville Province suitable for socially-distanced teaching with a donation of desks and chairs. MGSEC director Nuria Gómez Pascual said that the materials "allow us to improve teaching, facilitating the distribution of students and enabling a greater distance between them,” in accordance with educational and health authorities’ recommendations against Covid-19.

Cementos Portland Valderrivas Alcalá de Guadaíra plant head of environment Pedro Lanagrán said, “The company is committed to the population of Alcala, and especially to the education sector – key to the proper development of our town.”