September 2024
Russian Federal Antimonopoly Service allows Topkinsky Cement to acquire 25% stake in Iskitimtsement 03 December 2014
Russia: Topkinsky Cement, a part of Siberian Cement, has received the Federal Antimonopoly Service's (FAS) permission to purchase a 24.92% voting stake in Iskitimtsement. Siberian Cement's stake will therefore grow to 49.899%. In February 2013 the FAS blocked Sibirsky Cement from acquiring a 90% stake of Iskitimtsement's voting shares.
Iskitimtsement posted a revenue of Euro85m and a net profit of Euro11m in 2013 compared to a revenue of Euro77m and a net profit of Euro16m in 2012. The cement plant holds 17% of the Siberian Federal District's cement market.
Cemex to resume Tepeaca cement plant expansion 03 December 2014
Mexico: Cemex has announced that it is restarting its expansion of the Tepeaca cement plant in Puebla State. By 2017 its total production capacity will reach 7.6Mt/yr. Total investment is estimated to be approximately US$650m. The additional investment, in order to add 4.4Mt/yr to the current capacity, will be approximately US$200m, since the company had already invested close to US$450m by 2008.
"We are encouraged by our industry's positive outlook in Mexico. With this investment, Cemex reaffirms its confidence in the country's future" said Rogelio Zambrano, chairman of the board of Cemex. The expansion is expected to generate approximately 1500 jobs during the construction phase and about 100 direct and 240 indirect jobs once operation begins.
The announcement was made during a ceremony at the plant with the attendance of Ildefonso Guajardo, Secretary of Economy of Mexico, Rafael Moreno, Governor of Puebla, Amelio Flores, Mayor of Cuautinchan, Rogelio Zambrano, Chairman of the Board of Cemex, Fernando A Gonzalez, CEO of Cemex and Juan Romero, President of Cemex Mexico.
PPC to reshuffle board but keep Gordhan out 03 December 2014
South Africa: PPC will reshuffle its board due to shareholder pressure. However, it will not reinstate its former chief executive Ketso Gordhan. In a statement, it said that four of its current directors will step down and be replaced by six new ones, expanding the number of directors to 12, according to Reuters.
Shareholders in PPC were due to vote to remove the board in a resolution put forward by three minority shareholders, who had also backed Gordhan as a director. However, the shareholders have agreed to withdraw that demand in favour of the reshuffling plan. Gordhan was not among the latest set of candidates for new board positions.
PPC shareholders and investors were advised against removing the board to support a return by Gordhan by global shareholder voting research firm Glass Lewis & Company. The US firm told clients in a report that while Gordhan seemed qualified to implement PPC's expansion strategy, he had displayed 'erratic and volatile' behaviour and the company's board had been reasonable in accepting his resignation in September 2014.
N+P signs solid recovered fuels deal with Secil and Cimpor 03 December 2014
Portugal: N+P International has announced the signing of a five year contract for the supply of solid recovered fuels (SRF) into a number of cement plants belonging to the Portuguese cement companies Secil and Cimpor. The contract was signed by Gestão Ambiental e Valorização Energética, a subsidiary company of Secil, Cimpor and SGVR, responsible for sourcing and supply of alternative fuels and raw materials into the Portuguese cement industry.
"In the past years we have invested millions to develop UK market, to provide end users of our SRF sustainable supply concept. We have put a lot of effort in optimising quality levels of SRF in the UK market, as well as investing in the development of sustainable logistic chains. Now N+P has several port sites at strategic locations and the possibility to use a large number of sea containers," said Karel Jennissen, chairman of N+P.
By signing the contract N+P has committed to supply over 700,000t of SRF in the next five years. The majority of the SRF is already sourced and contracted by companies in the UK recycling market. A minor part of the volume will be sourced in Italy and France.
Saurashtra Cement's company secretary Anupama Pai resigns 03 December 2014
India: Saurashtra Cement Ltd has announced that Anupama Pai, who was appointed as vice president (legal) and company secretary from 1 October 2014, has resigned with effect from 30 November 2014.
HeidelbergСement Ukraine appoints Kovaliova to board 03 December 2014
Ukraine: HeidelbergCement Ukraine has appointed Olena Kovaliova as Deputy Chairperson of the Management Board to replace David Andreas Johannes von Lingen. The company's Supervisory Board decided to terminate von Lingen's authority on 25 November 2014 ahead of the original scheduled date of 31 December 2014, according to a company statement. Von Lingen had been in port for three and a half years. The Supervisory Board appointed Kovaliova as the Board Deputy Chairperson from 1 January 2015 for three years until 1 January 2018.
Smog politics and cement overcapacity 03 December 2014
China has admitted once again that its cement industry is plagued by over-capacity. State news agency Xinhua came clean this week as it reported that 103 production lines have been closed for the winter months.
The principal reason given for the winter shutdown was prevention of air pollution with resolution of overcapacity presented as a handy secondary. With long term plans in place to reduce overcapacity through industry mergers, demolitions and bans on new plants this is one more offshoot from the very public problems that smog and industrial pollution has given the Chinese government.
The policy follows a similar shutdown in China's far-western state of Xinjian that has been implemented since 1 November 2014. Xinjian is away from China's main cement production heartland in the south and east of the country. The idea here is to stagger winter production from cement kilns that use coal to avoid flue gas emissions rising when coal consumption for heating also rises. Since cement consumption by the construction industry is lower in the winter, a stoppage at this time of year should affect the cement producers less. Proposals have also been made to include Inner Mongolia and Hebei into the scheme.
The three provinces in question now - Heilongjiang, Liaoning and Jilin – represent 80Mt/yr or 6% of China's total cement production capacity from 28 cement plants, according to the Global Cement Directory 2014. This is broadly in line with the proportion of national population the three provinces hold.
Back in 2012 the National Development and Reform Commission suggested that national cement capacity utilisation was 69%. Local media in China have been reporting that currently Xinjian uses 60%. Western commentators reckon that China uses only 50% of the cement industry's total production capacity. By contrast India, the world's second biggest cement producer after China, has been lamenting this year that capacity utilisation had fallen below 70%. Worldwide, excluding China, capacity utilisation rates have been estimated to be just below 70% in 2014.
Plummeting particulate matter counts are great for Beijing's cyclists and their continued goodwill towards the government. However, the implications are bad for the producers who are affected and the associated industries. As one Chinese equipment manufacturer commented on Global Cement's LinkedIn Group, "...many small manufacturers of cement plants in China will go bankrupt." Unfortunately this too is also in line with the country's strategy to reign in its cement industry through industry consolidation. It may yet turn out sunny for the state planners... once the smog clears.
Russia: Buzzi Unicem has completed the acquisition of 100% of Uralcement from for Euro104m in cash. The acquisition of Uralcement's plant in Korkino raises Buzzi Unicem's annual production capacity in Russia to 4.5Mt/yr.
In September 2014 Buzzi Unicem, via its German wholly-owned subsidiary Dyckerhoff, agreed to acquire Uralcement, subject to regulatory approvals expected by the end of 2014. Having obtained the authorisations, Buzzi Unicem has finalised the agreement for the acquisition of Uralcement's plant in Korkino, south of Chelyabinsk, with a cement production capacity of 1.1Mt/yr.
Buzzi Unicem seeks to boost its position in the Urals region and benefit from the combined production network with Dyckerhoff's plant at Sukhoy Log. Dyckerhoff entered the Russian cement market in 1994 with the acquisition of a stake in Sukholozhskcement.
DWI Soetjipto selected as Pertaminas CEO by Indonesian Government 02 December 2014
Indonesia: The Indonesian government has selected PT Semen Indonesia president director Dwi Soetjipto as the next president director and CEO of the country's state-owned oil and gas firm PT Pertamina, following interim chief Muhamed Husen, who took over on 1 October 2014 from Karen Agustiawan. As of 28 November 2014, Soetjitpto is leading Pertamina.
Soetjipto managed PT Semen Indonesia's troubled unit, PT Semen Padang, between 2003 and 2005, where his success in overcoming widespread worker's opposition to the government's plan to sell a controlling stake in the firm to Mexico's Cemex landed him the top post in Semen Indonesia.
Soetjipto gained a Bachelor Degree in Engineering from the Sepuluh Nopember Institute of Technology in Surabaya, East Java, a Masters in Management from the Andalas University in West Sumatra and a PhD in Management from the University of Indonesia in Depok, West Java.
Kerim Tunçay takes over as general manager of Union Cement Norcem 02 December 2014
UAE: After more than 14 years with HeidelbergCement, Kerim Tunçay has been offered the position of general manager at Union Cement Norcem (UCN). Union Cement Norcem (UCN) is a joint venture between Union Cement Company (UCC) of Ras Al Khaimah, UAE and Norcem of HeidelbergCement. It was set up in 1980 to market and sell the American Petroleum Institute (API) certified oil well cement, concentrating on export markets.
Tunçay, who took charge of his new assignment from 1 September 2014, will be in charge of all domestic and export sales of cement and clinker of UCC in addition to the sales of oil well cement.
Born in Istanbul, Turkey in 1972, Tunçay has a Masters Degree in Business Administration from University of Saarland, in Saarbrucken, Germany and a Marketing Diploma from University of California, Berkeley. Trained as an International Trader Candidate, Tunçay started his career with the cement industry in 2000 at HeidelbergCement Trading (HCT) in Istanbul.