September 2024
Anhui Conch to build cement plant in Chelyabinsk 10 April 2015
Russia: The government of Chelyabinsk and China's Anhui Conch Cement Company Limited are negotiating the construction of a cement plant. Anhui Conch has been provided several plots for assessment. According to general manager Wang Jianchao, a project scheme will be determined in the near future and will either consist of the modernisation of existing facilities or the construction of a new cement plant at undeveloped limestone deposits.
UK: David Ball Group, a UK-based manufacturer and supplier of cement admixture products and ultra-low-carbon, cement-free concrete, has announced that it has received investment from The Wheatsheaf Group.
David Ball Group will use the investment to further develop its PUDLO brand, a technically-advanced concrete waterproofing system and to fund the commercialisation of its new patented product, CEMFREE.
CEMFREE is a cement replacement technology that enables the production of structural concrete without the need for Portland cement, which accounts for 5-7% of global man-made CO2 emissions. David Ball Group and Wheatsheaf believe that CEMFREE will help the construction industry to lower its environmental impact by reducing the amount of carbon in structural concrete worldwide.
"We are delighted with the investment by Wheatsheaf. We were keen to find an experienced and dynamic investor who would not only bring skills to the board but assist with accelerating the growth of the business in the UK and overseas," said David Ball, founder and chairman of the David Ball Group. "Wheatsheaf has a strong focus on investing and supporting sustainable technologies and shares our belief that CEMFREE provides a significant opportunity for reducing carbon emissions within the construction sector. The level of interest generated by CEMFREE demonstrates the determination of the global cement and concrete industry to reduce its environmental impact with innovative business-led solutions."
Waste incinerator cancelled after violent protests 09 April 2015
China: Luoding City, a western Guangdong city, has cancelled a plan to build an incinerator that prompted a protest of up to 10,000 people, during which three police cars were flipped over and a duty office was vandalised.
The Luoding city government posted two letters on its website announcing the decision. One informed the Langtang township government that it had decided to cancel the project, which Langtang had brokered with China Resources Cement Holdings. The second letter urged residents to stop blocking roads, vandalising property or disturbing public order.
The decision came after residents of the town engaged in a stand-off with police on 7 April 2015 in protest against what they said was the violent handling of a peaceful sit-in against the incinerator on 6 April 2015. "People are angry with the site selection of the incinerator as it is within a 1km radius of their homes," said one resident. "The cement plant is producing enough pollution, we don't need another polluter."
Residents said that about 1000 locals turned up to the sit-in on 6 April 2015, which took place outside a cement plant owned by China Resources. They have claimed that more than 100 men dressed in black and armed with batons, helmets and shields beat demonstrators. They said that the men were a mix of policemen and security guards. "My nephew is only 14 and is suffering from concussion after he was beaten by the men with batons," said one resident. "It was very brutal and totally unnecessary to use such force against unarmed civilians during a peaceful and rational demonstration, especially as they attacked children too."
Luoding city government claimed that 400 residents had taken part in the 7 April 2015 stand-off and denied that any had been injured. It said that "A small number of troublemakers instigated the crowd," to block roads and throw rocks at plant staff. Police arrested the 'troublemakers,' but 400 others gathered the next day, with some throwing rocks and glass bottles and vandalising police cars and the duty office, according to the Luoding city government.
Venezuela: AVIC International Beijing Co Ltd and its customer Industria Venezolana del Cemento (INVECEM) have ordered two vertical roller mills for INVECEM's new cement plant in Monay, Trujillo, Venezuela. The order comprises a LM 53.3+3C for grinding clinker and an LM 48.4 raw meal mill.
The new cement plant is a joint venture project of the governments of Venezuela and China, which have agreed to build three new cement plants in Venezuela, each with 2500t/day of cement production capacity.
The LM 48.4 LOESCHE vertical roller mill will grind cement raw material with a capacity of 280t/hr at 12% R0.09mm. The LM 53.3+3C cement mill will produce 200t/hr of Ordinary Portland cement with a fineness of 3200 Blaine. LDC classifiers are also included. Delivery of the key parts is planned for November 2015.
Holcim's top shareholder supports Olsen as new CEO 09 April 2015
Europe: Holcim's largest shareholder Thomas Schmidheiny is happy with the appointment of Lafarge executive Eric Olsen as the future head of LafargeHolcim once the merger is completed. "Thomas Schmidheiny views Eric Olsen as a very good appointment," said Schmidheiny's spokesman. Shareholders of Holcim still need to ratify the merger at a vote in May 2015.
Eric Olsen named as future CEO of LafargeHolcim 09 April 2015
Europe: The boards of directors of Lafarge and Holcim have approved the appointment of Eric Olsen as future Chief Executive Officer of LafargeHolcim, to be in office as from the closing of the merger project.
At present Eric Olsen is Lafarge Executive Vice-President of Operations. He has been a member of the Group's Executive Committee since 2007. Aged 51, Olsen has dual American and French nationalities. He has extensive international experience and has held senior positions in operations and in the fields of finance, human resources and strategy.
Commenting on the appointment, Wolfgang Reitzle, Chairman of the Holcim Board and future co-Chairman of LafargeHolcim, said, "I very much welcome Eric Olsen as future CEO for LafargeHolcim. With his broad international experience and insights in key markets, he is best positioned to lead the combined company for the benefit of employees, shareholders and customers. Bruno Lafont and I will support Eric in creating a new joint culture that will be the key driver for our premier competitive position."
Lafarge Chairman and CEO, and future LafargeHolcim co-Chairman, Bruno Lafont, added, "I have every confidence in his ability to deliver the synergies announced and ensure the development and the success of LafargeHolcim."
Indian inefficiency and China running out of options 08 April 2015
The news this week that construction companies in the Indian state of Telengana are considering cement imports from China in order to circumvent a local dispute over cement prices highlights several issues. Firstly, state politics in India can create some interesting and not altogether logical situations. Secondly, it throws the spotlight on the changing situation in China, where the cement industry will be increasingly squeezed from all sides in the coming years. Thirdly, it shows that the global cement industry is exactly that – Global.
The first reaction when hearing of Chinese imports into India might reasonably be one of shock. How can it be that it is cheaper (21% less by local estimates) to import cement from 5500km away, into the world's second-largest cement producer, than it is to send it down the road from Andhra Pradesh? Overall, India is 'swimming in' excess cement capacity, which should make it cheap across the board. Large, well-run and efficient plants, coupled to current low diesel (transport) prices, should give the industry significant advantages on the international stage. So what's going on?
Poor local and national infrastructure is the 'obvious' culprit here, but it is only part of the story. The Telengana state government has imposed extra taxes on trucks bringing cement into the state from neighbouring Andhra Pradesh. By suggesting imports from China, it is possible that the Real Estate Developers' Associations of India (CREDAI) wants to make a point to the state government. Spotting a local imbalance of cement supply and demand, Telengana appears, in this instance, to have acted to make a quick buck. However, it has done so to the detriment of many other stakeholders. The extra tax deprives cement producers of higher sales, robs hauliers of business and stops the public getting a fair market price for cement. This highlights that India has not only physical infrastructure to build (in terms of highways and new railways), but also a more effective political infrastructure that can put aside state-on-state one-upmanship. This is a long-term task and not straightforward when you consider India's 1.25 billion inhabitants.
Of course the fact that China has been mentioned by CREDAI as a likely source of cement is far less surprising. The largest cement producer in the world has had excess capacity for several years now (regardless of who is supplying the statistics) and takes the opportunity to export whenever it can.
However, the sands are shifting under China at the moment. The country has not been able to rely on domestic demand to keep its over-inflated cement industry in business for many years now. It is indeed highly questionable whether it ever needed a cement industry the size of the one that it built.
Indeed, economic growth is slowing for the economy as a whole and this week there were even calls for the national housing bank to reduce interest rates for lower and middle income earners, effectively propping the sector up. This comes on top of tax breaks for home-buyers, which came in at the end of March 2015. Falling house prices have bred uncertainty and a lack of demand for new constructions and hence cement. Could China's absurd cement demand bubble finally be about to pop?
Whether or not the bubble pops next week or in a couple of years, the government has long been making preparations, in the cement sector at least. It has started to aggressively remove older and inefficient capacity, encourage cement exports and helped finance new plants overseas. China is changing its emphasis from cement production to cement plant project management. This is a good move, especially as there will be fewer opportunities for conventional exports in the coming years. Neighbouring Vietnam expects to have an incredible 20Mt of cement for export at less than US$50/t in 2015, flooding China's traditional sphere of influence. At the same time, the number of countries that are self-sufficient in terms of cement production are on the rise, meaning fewer importers.
Even opportunities for Chinese firms to build cement plants outside China are likely to become fewer and further between in the future. The most promising markets in Africa already have Chinese cement plants or cement plant projects, joined this week by Zambia. Chinese cement and cement engineering firms also have interests in Central Asia, Nepal, Mongolia and elsewhere. These markets, while promising, will have nothing like the potential to consume cement like China did in the recent past. As China reduces its capacity, its growing cement plant engineering sector may well find it hard to do enough business to survive...
Votorantim Cimentos increases investments 08 April 2015
Brazil: Votorantim Cimentos has announced a new investment package for 2015 – 2018. US$1.6bn will be invested in five new plants in Brazil, one in Turkey and one in Bolivia, as well as in the expansion and modernisation of existing plants. The announcement comes after an investment plan of US$3.2bn, completed in the period between 2007 - 2014, when the company expanded its global production capacity by 51%.
In Brazil, Votorantim's priority is to increase production in the central-north and northeast regions. It has identified growth potential in the construction sector and in cement consumption in those regions. Two of the new cement plants will begin operating in 2015, one in Edealina, Goiás and another in Primavera, Pará. In the second phase, the construction of two plants in Sobral and Pecém in Ceará is planned and one in Caaporã, Paraíba. The plants are expected to come on stream in the second half of 2017.
With its new plants, Votorantim will increase its cement production capacity in Brazil by 18%, adding about 6Mt/yr to the current capacity of 32Mt/yr of cement. The investments are in line with the company's preparation for a new cycle of growth in the country. "We are concentrating investments in attractive and profitable markets, always with long-term vision and thinking of the future market demand," said Walter Dissinger, Votorantim Cimentos' CEO.
In the Americas and Europe, investments include one cement plant in Yacuses, Bolivia in partnership with two other companies and one new plant in Turkey. The company is also considering the construction of a new plant in Morocco. In the US there is a project for the expansion of the Charlevoix plant in Michigan. "The American market is recovering and is also attractive," said Dissinger. The new projects outside of Brazil will add 2.5Mt/yr to the company's installed capacity. "We prepared ourselves to confront a challenging scenario in Brazil and follow our policy of thinking in the long term. Our discipline and financial solidity allows us to keep investing to be ready for the recovery of the markets," said Dissinger.
Lafarge to expand plant despite competition 08 April 2015
Zambia: Lafarge Zambia will begin work on the US$217m expansion of its cement plant in Lusaka in 2015 despite the recent opening of Dangote's cement plant in the country and slow regional economic growth.
Construction will start in the second half of 2015 and be completed in 2018, according to Emmanuel Rigaux, chief executive of the plant. The work will double Lafarge's cement production capacity to 2Mt/yr.
Lafarge's expansion and Dangote's new plant are not expected to cause a cement glut in Zambia, mainly because of demand from the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo. "The growth there is massive, in fact it's even higher than in Zambia," said Rigaux.
Chinese and Zambian officials also appear to be planning the construction of a cement plant in Zambia: Find story here.
Mexico: Grupo Cementos de Chihuahua (GCC) expects its sales growth to decline in 2015 after record revenues in 2014 as low oil prices constrict demand in the US, the company's top market. GCC treasurer Luis Carlos Arias said that after a nearly 20% sales spike in 2014, the company expects only single digit growth in the US in 2015, which accounts for about 70% of total sales. Demand in Mexico is expected to fall slightly.