September 2024
Vulcan Materials names new CEO 16 July 2014
US: Vulcan Materials has announced that its board has named J Thomas Hill as the company's new CEO, succeeding Donald James in the role. James, who is 65 years old, will become the company's executive chairman. He has served as Vulcan's CEO since 1996 and as its chairman since 1997. Hill, who is 55, previously had acted as Vulcan's chief operating officer. Before that, he held several management positions in sales and operations since joining the company in 1979.
Vulcan also promoted its financial chief John McPherson to the position of chief financial and strategy officer, a role in which he will oversee strategy and human resources functions in addition to his existing duties.
New director appointed at Voskresenskcement 16 July 2014
Russia: Andrey Nesen has been appointed as the new director of Voskresenskcement plant, a Lafarge subsidiary. Nesen will oversee production and personnel development, the upkeep of corporate safety standards and will control implementation of the plant's social projects. Andrey Nesen previously occupied the position of Voskresenskcement's operations director, production manager and director of the production analysis department.
Vicat buys out Vicat Sagar in India 16 July 2014
India: Vicat Group has purchased Sagar Cements' stake in Vicat Sagar Cement for US$72m, subject to customary conditions precedents. After this transaction, Vicat will own 100% of Vicat Sagar Cement. Together with the share purchase, the two groups will untie all their ownership links.
Vicat Sagar Cement operates a cement plant in North Karnataka with a cement production capacity of 3Mt/yr. The plant includes its own captive power plant and access to the rail network. Vicat's India operations, comprising Bharathi Cement and Vicat Sagar Cement, include two cement plants with a total production capacity of 8Mt/yr.
In 2013 Vicat reported sales of US$210m in India, a rise of 12.7% year-on-year. In the first quarter of 2014, sales in India rose by 27.2%.
Spain: The Spanish cement makers association Oficemen expects cement demand in Spain to fall by 3% year-on-year to 10.4Mt in 2014.
Despite the slight recovery of the Spanish economy expected by analysts, the year is expected to be difficult for the local cement makers, the chairman of Oficemen, Isidoro Miranda, has said. Cement demand is expected to start increasing in 2015 if the Development Ministry decides to boost investments public works, he added. In June 2014, cement demand in Spain fell by 2% year-on-year to 967,790t.
Laos: The Lao government has halted coal exports to protect cement and other key national industries, according to the Lao Ministry of Energy and Mines. The country has six cement plants, which import a large volume of high-price coal, the ministry reported.
According to local cement producers the price of locally produced cement is currently higher than that in Thailand. This poses a challenge for the industry when the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Economic Community is established in 2015. Hence they are supporting a legal means to secure an adequate supply of coal mined inside the country.
China: Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in northwest China saw cement production fall by 14.4% year-on-year to 12.8Mt in the first half of 2014, the local administration of building materials has revealed. Cement sales dropped by 13% to 12.6Mt during the same period.
Meanwhile, the region produced 13.5Mt of clinker in the first half of 2014, a rise of 10.5%. At the end of June 2014 clinker inventories totalled 9.04Mt, an increase of 75.5%.
Bosnia and Herzegovina: Bosnian cement factory Tvornica Cementa Kakanj (TCK) plans to invest Euro10.2m in the 2013 - 2018 period towards environmental upgrades. In 2014 TCK plans to invest Euro2.55m on modernising its cement mills and dust collecting system. The company is majority-owned by Dutch-based CEEM Investment, a subsidiary of HeidelbergCement.
Jamaica: The Caribbean Cement Company and the Venezuelan government are close to a supply agreement for approximately 340,000t of clinker. The deal is valued at about US$29m, according to the Jamaican government. The clinker will be used by Venezuela as part of an initiative to build two million homes over a seven-year span to address a housing shortage.
Tajikistan aims to double cement production in 2014 16 July 2014
Tajikistan: Tajikistan generated 496,600t of cement in the first six months of 2014, according to the Ministry of Industry and New Technologies. Tajikistan reportedly generated 385,000t of cement in 2013. The country is now intending to double its annual production of cement in 2014.
In September 2013, the Yovon cement plant (Huaxin Gayur Cement Co Ltd) started operation. It has reportedly produced 362,800t of cement in January - June 2014. This was over 70% of the overall volume of cement produced in Tajikistan in the first half of 2014.
Other cement plants in the country include the Tajikistan - China joint venture, Yovon cement, with a cement production capacity of 1Mt/yr. OJSC Tojikcement (Dushanbe cement plant) produced 101,600t of cement in the first half of 2014.
Elementia in talks to buy out Lafarge in Mexico 15 July 2014
Mexico: Mexico's cement producer Elementia is in talks to buy out its joint venture partner Lafarge, according to local media. Elementia has the right to buy Lafarge's 47% stake under an option described in the original terms of the partnership. Lafarge is said to be keen to avoid competing with itself in Mexico after agreeing to the US$40bn merger with Holcim, which already operates in the country.
The stake has been valued as high as US$500m. However, it is unlikely to attain that high a price because Lafarge has limited bargaining power and Elementia already has majority and management control of the joint venture. Lafarge may be forced to offer its stake at a discount to convince Elementia to buy. Lafarge and Holcim's recent proposed asset divestment list did not include the Mexican joint venture, which has a cement production capacity of 2Mt/yr.
Elementia sells cement in Mexico under the brand Cementos Fortaleza. Buying out Lafarge would bolster Elementia's position in Mexico, where cement demand is predicted to grow on the back of economic overhauls that were approved in 2013.