10 February 2021
Italy: Buzzi Unicem’s net sales remained stable at Euro3.22bn in 2020. Cement sales volumes grew slightly to 29.3Mt and ready-mixed concrete sales fell by 3.1% year-on-year to 11.7Mm3 from 12.1Mm3. The group attributed this to growth in the US and stable markets in Russia and Germany, compensating for weaker trends in Eastern Europe and Italy.
Australia: Boral’s group net sales fell by 9% year-on-year to US$2.10bn in the first half of its 2021 financial year from Euro2.78bn in the corresponding period of its 2020 financial year. Earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell by 1% to US$376m from US$381m. Net profit after tax remained consistent with previous first-half levels at US$121m. The group noted good value creation from its sale of its 50% stake in USG Boral to Germany-based Knauf for US$1.02bn, which it expects to conclude in the second half of the 2021 financial year.
Chief executive officer and managing director Zlatko Todorcevski said, “While market conditions across the sector remain uncertain, we have made strong early progress to reset our portfolio of businesses, in line with our commitment to shareholders to transform Boral into a more agile, resilient and profitable company. Much work remains to be done but we are well on our way. Our half-year results were impacted, as we expected, by a decline in multi-residential and non-residential construction activity in Australia, particularly in New South Wales, and the completion of a number of major projects ahead of materials demand from new projects coming through. We are in a good position to supply demand when activity in Australia picks up.” He added that housing demand in the North American region strengthened throughout the first half of 2021.
Cement sales revenue and earnings from the group’s Boral Australia subsidiary were reported as stable. The group has also conducted a study of the US fly ash market as part of its ongoing portfolio review. It plans to strengthen its fly ash business in the long term due to expected demand growth.
LafargeHolcim and Schlumberger New Energy to study carbon capture and storage studies at two cement plants 10 February 2021
Europe/North America: Switzerland-based LafargeHolcim and US-based Schlumberger plan to study the feasibility of carbon capture and storage (CCS) systems at two cement plants in Europe and North America. The companies say that the partnership is intended to as a precursor towards the deployment of large-scale CCS solutions.
LafargeHolcim’s chief sustainability officer Magali Anderson said, “Today’s announcement is further proof of LafargeHolcim’s environmental leadership and commitment to pioneer new solutions to reduce carbon emissions on our journey to become a net zero company. Our partnership with Schlumberger, the world’s leading provider of technology to the global energy industry, will bring new advances in storage that could be replicated at scale across our sites.”
Holcim Argentina presents voluntary retirement plan to workers at Yocsina grinding plant 10 February 2021
Argentina: LafargeHolcim subsidiary Holcim Argentina has presented a voluntary retirement plan to all 50 workers at its Yocsina grinding plant in Cordoba. The La Voz del Interior newspaper has reported that the company is stopping production at the site and has invested US$120m in its integrated Malagueño cement plant in order to consolidate production there. Construction of the Yocsina plant originally started in 1959.
The company said, “At Holcim Argentina we are convinced of the potential of the Argentine market, and - as we have been doing for more than 90 years - we will continue to bet on the development of our country, both in private works and in public infrastructure."
Ambuja Cement implements biofuels for shipping 10 February 2021
India: LafargeHolcim subsidiary Ambuja Cement has begun a trial of bio-diesel fuel blends for its shipping fleet. It says that the fuel change will reduce the fleet’s CO2 emissions by 25%.
Managing Director and chief executive officer Neeraj Akhoury said, “With the introduction of bio-diesel blends, we are significantly contributing towards the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by introducing a suitable alternate green fuel that helps achieve our parent, LafargeHolcim’s, sustainability vision of ‘net zero pledge 2030’.”
Democratic Republic of Congo increases two-year Ugandan cement imports by 30% to 90,000t 10 February 2021
Democratic Republic of Congo/Uganda: The Democratic Republic of Congo has increased its imports of cement from Uganda by 30% to 90,000t in the two years since 1 February 2019 compared to the two prior years. The Daily Monitor newspaper has reported the reason for the increase as a Rwandan ban on Ugandan goods across the East African countries’ border. This contributed to a 3% fall in Uganda’s value of cement exports to US$59.9m in the 2020 financial year from US$61.5m in the 2019 financial year.
Lebanese government conducts u-turn on cement imports 10 February 2021
Lebanon: The Ministry of Industry has reversed a recent decision to allow cement imports into the country. Following a meeting with local cement producers, Minister Imad Hobballah declared that allowing imports would decrease official selling prices rapidly, according to the L'Orient-Le Jou newspaper. Local producers have reported low sales due to a strict coronavirus-related lockdown that started in January 2021. Cimenterie Nationale reportedly stopped production in early February 2021 due to a lack of raw materials.
Guatemalan cement producers query quality of imports 10 February 2021
Guatemala: Local cement producers have expressed concern over the quality of rising imports from Asia. Issues over quality standards and packaging have been raised, according to the El Periódico newspaper. According to data from the Bank of Guatamala, cement imports worth around US$57m were reported in the first 11 months of 2020. Imports from Turkey and Vietnam represented 85% of this. The country has a cement production capacity of 5.5Mt/yr and domestic consumption is around 3Mt/yr.
FLSmidth publishes 2020 full-year results 10 February 2021
Denmark: FLSmidth’s group net sales fell by 20% year-on-year to Euro2.21bn in 2020 from Euro2.78bn in 2019. Its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) before special non-recurring items fell by 44% to Euro152m from Euro270m. Net profit was Euro27.6m, down by 74% from Euro104m.
The group’s cement business recorded net sales of Euro783m, down by 31% from Euro1.14bn, and an EBITA loss of Euro15.9m, compared to a gain of Euro65.3m in 2019. It said that the cement business is not expected to be EBITA positive in 2021 due to continued cement reshaping costs. However, order intake for the cement division improved year-on-year in the fourth quarter of 2020 due to a Euro101m engineering, procurement and supervision contract for a cement plant project in Ethiopia.
Chair Vagn Ove Sørensen and chief executive officer Thomas Schulz said, “The cement market is faced with on-going overcapacity and we see no short-term to medium-term recovery. Thus, we continue activities to reshape our cement business. Large economic stimulus programmes, combined with an increasing focus on lower-carbon cement, will create good opportunities in the medium- to long-term but the timing and extent of an overall rebound in the cement market remain uncertain. It is, however, clear that the cement industry will need substantial investments to meet the emissions reduction targets set by a growing number of cement producers as well as the recent commitments to carbon neutrality made by the Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA) and the European Cement Association. Based on the need to decarbonise, we foresee a multi-commodity cement industry in the future, utilising a range of cement production processes and a variety of raw materials. As the industry’s leading and most innovative premium supplier with strong process know-how, we are strongly positioned to benefit from this development.”
In further comments about cement industry trends the company noted that, “Following the shutdown of about 20% of the world’s cement plants outside of China in April 2020, the share of cement plants in operation has since climbed back up above 95% at year-end. However, many plants continue to run at reduced capacity and sites remain difficult to access due to restrictions and preventative measurements taken by authorities and plant operators.”