28 September 2022

India: Birla Corporation plans to invest a total of US$1bn in realising its planned 50% cement capacity footprint expansion to 30Mt/yr by 2030. The producer is considering establishing 4Mt/yr-worth of new cement plants, possibly in the form of a new 4Mt/yr integrated cement plant in Chhattisgarh. It would also carry out 4Mt/yr-worth of upgrades and 2Mt/yr-worth of debottlenecking work.

The producer expects its newly commissioned Mukutban cement plant to contribute 600,000 - 700,000t of cement production during the remaining five months of the 2023 financial year, rising to 3Mt/yr by 2024.

During the 2022 financial year, Birla Corporation increased its cement sales volumes by 6% to 14Mt. The company said that it achieved 95% capacity utilisation throughout the year. It noted continuing cost pressures and slow demand growth so far in the 2023 financial year.

Chair Harsh Vardhan Lodha said "Things may not look up immediately, but post-Diwali we are hopeful of a robust turnaround."

India: Ratings agency Crisil forecasts that the operating profitability of cement producers will decline by around 15% year-on-year to around US$11/t in the 2023 financial year due to growing fuel costs. However, it added that a 17% growth in cement demand in the quarter from April to June 2022 would mitigate the impact of this. It expects that growth in the cement market in the 2023 year will be driven by non-residential sectors such as infrastructure development and commercial projects. By region, growth is anticipated to increase fastest in eastern regions, followed by central and southern regions but the northern and western regions could be more subdued. It added that any significant delay in the reduction of petcoke and coal prices or any company that was unable to increase its cement prices would add further pressure to the market.

India: Gensol has commissioned a 6.7MW captive solar power plant for Shree Cement’s Panipat plant in Haryana. The project is estimated to save over 9000t/yr of CO2 emissions. The cement producer acquired the 1.5Mt/yr cement grinding plant in 2015.

Pakistan: The Punjab Assembly has constituted a committee to review proposed plans for a new cement plant in Chakwal in the Province's Rawalpindi Division. Protestors have previously complained about plans to the Punjab Environment Protection Agency. The Dawn newspaper has reported that stated concerns include the threat to the local water supply, damage to future tourism promotion and possible harm to endangered species, including autochthonous wild sheep.

Malaysia: Bank CIMB Group Holding Berhad has published sustainable finance targets for its lending to cement sector clients. Islamic Finance News has reported that the institution will reduce the emissions intensity of loans to cement producers by 36% to 720,000t per tonne of cementitious product by 2030 from 460,000 at present.

CIMB Group Holding Berhad recently doubled its sustainable finance target to US$13m by 2024, from US$6.48m.

Australia: Fremantle Ports has broken ground on its construction of a new US$35.1m cement terminal at Kwinana Bulk Terminal in Western Australia. Business News Western Australia has reported that contractor COVA-Haywards will build a 40,000t-capacity clinker storage dome at the site. The terminal will supply BGC and Cockburn Cement's local grinding operations. Commissioning is scheduled for 2024.

State development minister Roger Cook said"It will significantly improve our capability to move clinker faster, more safely and with very significant environmental benefits, and provide the capacity for the port facility to accommodate future trade growth. It's a great example of planning assets to integrate the state-owned port with adjacent private facilities, with benefits for all."

France: HeidelbergCement subsidiary Ciments Calcia plans to lay the first stone of a major upgrade project at its Airvault cement plant on 5 October 2022. The event will mark the start of the construction phase of a new 4000t/day clinker production line, according to La Nouvelle République newspaper. The Euro300m project will be built by Germany-based ThyssenKrupp.

Germany: Heidelberg Materials says it is considering shutting down plants in Germany due to the high cost of gas and electricity. In comments reported by Reuters chief executive officer Dominik von Achten said, "If power prices won't come down sustainably, we would have to take individual plants in Germany completely off the grid. That's what we have prepared for." He added that the company is shifting production to times and days when power prices are lower including at the weekend. However, changing staff shift patterns has required ongoing discussions with labour unions.

The building materials company expects its energy bill to rise by around half year-on-year to over Euro3bn in 2022. It has called on the German government to place a cap on energy prices despite measures the company has already taken to protect itself from soaring costs, such as using alternative fuels.

Spain: Sustainability Observatory's Decarbonisation 2022 report has named FCC, Cemex and Holcim on a list of Spain's top 10 CO₂ emitters. Construction conglomerate FCC, parent company of Cementos Portland Valderrivas, was the seventh largest contributor the country's CO₂ emissions during the year. Mexico-based Cemex placed joint eighth with energy provider Iberdrola at 2.4Mt-worth of CO₂ emissions in 2021, followed by Switzerland-based Holcim with 2Mt.

Spanish CO₂ emissions grew by 5.1% year-on-year in 2021, and by 3% across industries subject to emissions credit trading, which include the cement sector. Together, the top 10 emitters accounted for 57% of these industries' emissions, and 19% of total national emissions.