November 2024

Regions: Central China's Hubei Province produced 11.3Mt of cement in January and February 2013, a year-on-year decline of 13.8%. However, clinker production rose by 1.98% to 6.73Mt.

Cement producers in the eastern province of Zhejiang produced 115Mt of cement and 56.7Mt of clinker in 2012, a year-on-year decrease of 4.8% and 5.9% respectively.

Companies: Sinoma International Engineering Co recorded an operating-revenue of US$710m in the first quarter of 2013, a year-on-year decline of 20.4%. The company's net profit slid by 12% to US$38.3m.

Zhejiang Jianfeng Group recorded an operating-revenue of US$267m in 2012, a year-on-year increase of 0.26%. Net profit fell by 39.2% to US$26.5m.

India: Baring Asia is in advanced talks with Lafarge India to invest around US$240m in the cement producer, according to private sources quoted by Reuters. Private equity firm Baring Asia is negotiating the investment for a minority stake.

Lafarge has four cement plants in India with a combined production capacity of 7.75Mt/yr. It has been selling assets around the world as part of an on-going debt reduction programme. Recent sales include that of a Ukrainian plant to CRH in late April 2013, the sale of a portfolio of its UK operations to Mittal Investments for US$439m in November 2012 and the sale of two of Lafarge's cement plants in North America to Eagle Materials for US$446m in September 2012.

Mexico: Multinational cement and building materials producer Cemex has announced that its consolidated net sales reached US$3.3bn during the first quarter of 2013, a decrease of 5% versus the comparable period in 2012. Operating earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) decreased by 8% during the quarter to US$521m compared to the same period in 2012.

Cemex said that the decrease in consolidated net sales was due to fewer business days and lower volumes in the Northern Europe, Mexico, the Mediterranean and South, Central America and the Caribbean operations partially offset by higher prices, in local currency terms, in most of its regions. Its operating earnings before other expenses remained flat at US$239m and its operation. Adjusting for fewer business the extraordinary favourable effect in 2012 resulting from the change of a pension plan in its Northern Europe region, net sales declined by 2% and operating EBITDA increased by 9% during the first quarter of 2013.

Speaking about the results Fernando A González, Cemex's executive vice president of finance and administration, said, "We are pleased with the operating EBITDA growth and operating EBITDA margin expansion during the quarter on a comparable basis. This is the seventh consecutive quarter with year-over-year improvement in operating EBITDA."

"We are also seeing good results from the initial stages of our value-before-volume strategy as evidenced by the sequential increase in our consolidated prices for cement ready-mix and aggregates, in both, local-currency and US$ terms."

In Mexico, net sales decreased by 7% in the first quarter of 2013 to US$780m, compared with US$838m in the first quarter of 2012. Operating EBITDA decreased by 11% to US$263m.

Cemex's operations in the United States reported net sales of US$736m in the first quarter of 2013, up by 8% in the same period of 2012. Operating EBITDA increased to US$19m, versus the loss of US$24m in the same quarter of 2012.

In Northern Europe, net sales for the first quarter of 2013 decreased by 13% to US$756m, compared with US$873m in the first quarter of 2012. Operating EBITDA, made a loss of US$17m, down from a gain of US$55m for the same period of 2012.

First-quarter net sales in the economically-troubled Mediterranean region were US$347m, 8% lower compared with US$377m during the first quarter of 2012. Operating EBITDA decreased by 25% to US$73m for the quarter versus the same period in 2012.

Cemex's operations in South, Central America and the Caribbean reported net sales of US$497m during the first quarter of 2013, representing a decrease of 5% over the same period of 2012. Operating EBITDA for this region increased by 5% to US$188m in the first quarter of 2013, from US$178m in the first quarter of 2012.

Finally, operations in Asia reported an 11% increase in net sales for the first quarter of 2013, to US$142m. Operating EBITDA for the quarter was US$24m, up by 93% from the same period in 2012.

Ukraine: France's Lafarge has announced the sale of its cement activities in Ukraine to Ireland's CRH for an enterprise value of Euro96m. The deal comprises one wet process cement plant located in the Lviv region, in the western part of the country. The Global Cement Directory 2013 lists the plant's capacity as 1.7Mt/yr.

The transaction, which is expected to close before the end of 2013, is subject to the relevant Ukrainian authorities' approval. Lafarge retains a presence in Ukraine through three aggregates quarries serving the Ukrainian, Russian and Polish markets.

Qatar: Qatar National Cement Company (QNCC) has reported a marginal increase in its net profit to US$308m in the first three months of 2013 despite flat total income. Sales rose by 1% to US$694m while gross profit dipped by 2% to US$317m. Total income was flat at US$354m.

France: The Vicat Group has reported that its sales for the three months ending 31 March 2013 amounted to Euro491m, a rise of 1.2% year-on-year and a rise of 2.7% at constant scope and exchange rates.

In the cement sector Vicat had sales of Euro256m, a marginal 0.2% increase (3.1% at current scope and exchange rates) on the Euro255m seen in the first quarter of 2012. Vicat sold 4.1Mt of cement during the quarter a year-on-year reported rise of 8%.

In France, Vicat's sales were down by 7.2% year-on-year for the quarter to Euro183m from Euro198m. Cement sales here were down by 14.2%. In Europe (excluding France) sales were stable year-on-year at Euro73m, a slight drop from Euro74m in the same period of 2012. Vicat noted a 14% sales increase in Switzerland but a 12.5% drop in sales in Italy.

In the United States, Vicat's cement sales increased by 13.7% year-on-year, with California seeing the most significant growth at 22%. In Turkey, India and Kazakhstan sales were up by nearly a third to Euro101m. In Turkey they were up by 84% to Euro45m, 10.6% to Euro44m in India and 23.2% to Euro12.4m in Kazakhstan. In Egypt sales fell by 10.6% to Euro22.8m and in west Africa sales were down by 5.1%.

Vicat said it would be able to advance its strong market positions in the rest of 2013. It expects conditions in France to remain difficult, those in Switzerland to remain positive and Italy to recover along with the US. It sees Turkey as continuing its positive cement market development and remains confident about the pospects of the Egyptian industry in the medium to long term. It expects to benefit from the recent launch of its Bharathi Cement plant in India and views its 'ideal' location within Kazakhstan as a great advantage in that growing economy.

It's been an expensive week for the US cement industry in terms of environmental infringements. First, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that Cemex has agreed to pay a US$1m fine for nitrogen oxide (NO_x) emissions at its Lyons cement plant in Colorado. Then Lehigh's Glen Falls plant was fined US$50,000 by the state of New York for polluting the Hudson River.

With new NESHAP and MACT environmental regulations from the EPA in place for 2013, one thought that occurs is how long it will take for the new standards to sink in. For example, the lead-time for both of the cases we have reported upon this week was several years at least. The complaint against Cemex referred to a period from 1997 to 2000, when the plant was operated by Southdown. Lehigh's fine arose from an inspection carried out in April 2010.

The EPA hopes that its latest changes will cut US cement industry emissions of mercury by 93%, hydrochloric acid by 96%, particulate matter by 91% and total hydrocarbons by 82%. After years of haggling between the Portland Cement Association and the EPA, even the latest round of regulations received a reprieve until September 2015, with the option to ask for a year's extension. So, if the lead times from the Cemex and Lehigh fines are indicative, contravening cement plants might not be facing fines relating to the current NESHAP or MACT regulations until around 2023 - 2026. Of course by this time, the regulations governing emissions will probably have changed again.

Given the shifting backdrop of US environmental regulations, many of the pertinent environmental presentations at last week's IEEE-IAS/PCA Cement Conference in Orlando, Florida, were of great help to US cement producers. Among these were two presentations by John Kline, who firstly gave an overview on the hot-topic of mercury emissions from cement kilns. He singled out the difficulties in comparing cement kilns to power plants in terms of mercury as cement plants are far more complicated, with more input materials. Kline also delivered a second presentation comparing selective catalytic reduction (SCR) for removal of NOx to selective non-catalytic reduction (SNCR) in cement plants. Those at the conference who attended Carrie Yonley's presentations were given a helpful and concise review of the often-conflicting regulations for cement plants, which she bravely attempted to give in just 16 minutes.

Despite the challenges of adhering to new environmental regulations, the mood at the 55th IEEE-IAS/PCA Cement Conference was one of general optimism for the future of the US cement industry. A full review of the conference can be found here.

Italy: At their annual general meeting held in Bergamo, the shareholders of Italcementi SpA elected the Board of Directors for the next three years, until approval of the financial statements for 2015.

The members of the new Board are Pierfranco Barabani, Giorgio Bonomi, Fritz Burkard, Victoire de Margerie Federico Falck, Lorenzo Renato Guerini, Italo Lucchini, Emma Marcegaglia, Sebastiano Mazzoleni, Jean Paul Méric Carlo Pesenti, Giampiero Pesenti, Carlo Secchi, Elena Zambon (all elected from the majority list presented by Italmobiliare SpA) and Giulio Antonello (a candidate from the minority list presented by First Eagle Global Fund).

Brazil: Dirce Navarro de Camargo, who became Brazil's richest woman when she inherited the Camargo Corrêa industrial conglomerate, has died at the age of 100.

Camargo died on Saturday 20 April 2013. Her age was disclosed by an executive close to the family who asked not to be named because the matter is private. She controlled a fortune valued at US$13.8bn and was the 62nd richest person in the world, according to Bloomberg.

Founded in 1939 by her late husband, Sebastiao Camargo, the conglomerate has played a key role in developing Brazil's infrastructure. It participated in the construction of Brazil's new capital, Brasilia, in the 1950s. Today, its interests range from publicly-traded cement maker Cimpor Cimentos de Portugal to a flip-flop manufacturer.

Camargo's three daughters, Regina de Camargo Pires Oliveira Dias, Renata de Camargo Nascimento and Rosana Camargo de Arruda Botelho, are poised to inherit the family fortune. The company spokesman declined to comment on how that fortune will be split up.

Ecuador: Loesche has announced that it will deliver one LM 56.4 type vertical roller mill for cement raw material grinding for the Guayaquil cement plant currently being expanded for Holcim Ecuador. The order was placed by the Chinese general contractor Sinoma-TJ (CBMI), which will supply a 4500t/day line.

The mill will grind cement raw material and has been designed for a capacity of 386t/hr. The mill motor capacity will be 4000kW. It will compliment an existing Loesche mill that has been operating at the same plant since 2010. Delivery is planned at the end of 2013.