September 2024
Holcim concludes sale of Zambian business to Huaxin Cement 01 December 2021
Zambia: Huaxin Cement has concluded its acquisition of Holcim's Zambian business. The business consists of a 75% stake in Lafarge Zambia. The company is reported to have a total value of US$150m. Both Chinese and Zambian competition authorities have now approved the deal.
Holcim's chief executive officer Jan Jenisch said "This divestment is another step in our transformation to become the global leader in innovative and sustainable building solutions, giving us the flexibility to continue investing in attractive growth opportunities. Huaxin has been a trusted partner for many years and we see the company as an ideal owner to further develop the business in Zambia."
In 2020 and the first 11 months of 2021, the Switzerland-based group received US$3.1bn from divestments.
Diamond Cement Group to acquire HeidelbergCement's Sierra Leone Cement Corporation stake 01 December 2021
Sierra Leone: HeidelbergCement has agreed to sell its 50% stake in Sierra Leone Cement Corporation to Diamond Cement Group. Sierra Leone Cement Corporation's assets consist of the 500,000t/yr Freetown grinding plant. HeidelbergCement said that its regional activity will now focus on its key markets of Benin, Burkino Faso, the Gambia, Ghana, Liberia and Togo.
Saurashtra Cement and Gujarat Sidhee Cement announce merger 01 December 2021
India: Saurashtra Cement and Gujarat Sidhee Cement have agreed to merge into a single entity. Their respective boards of directors approved the plans on 30 December 2021.
Dalmia Cement hears locals' concerns over Bokaro cement plant plans 01 December 2021
India: Dalmia Cement has presented its plans for its planned Bokaro, Jharkhand, grinding plant expansion and heard locals' concerns at a community meeting. The company said that the plant would increase local employment and agreed to compensate communities impacted by its operations. The plans consist of the installation of 2Mt/yr-worth of new grinding capacity on 0.1ha of land.
UltraTech Cement begins coal mining at Bicharpur coal mine 01 December 2021
India: UltraTech Cement has begun mining coal at its Bicharpur coal mine in Madhya Pradesh. The producer will use the coal in its cement production. UltraTech Cement acquired the 29Mt Bicharpur coal mine at auction in 2015.
Tanzania: Huaxin Cement has commissioned the grinding system at its Maweni Limestone plant near Tanga. The China-based company acquired the company from Athi River Mining (ARM) Cement in mid-2020. It then invested US$145m on an upgrade to the unit and started trial clinker production in June 2020. The upgraded plant has a production capacity of 1.6Mt/yr. Huaxin Cement says this is the first time it has directly produced cement in Africa rather than exporting it there.
Lafarge Poland to stop producing CEM I by the end of 2025 01 December 2021
Poland: Lafarge Poland says it plans to stop production CEM I Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) by the end of 2025. As part of its sustainable development strategy to 2030 it intends to gradually start phasing out CEM I from the end of 2022, starting with its CEM I 42.5 R Special bagged product. The subsidiary of Holcim will switch to products in the group’s ECOPlanet range instead. So far in 2020 ECOPlanet products were responsible for 10% of the sales from Lafarge Poland’s Kujawy plant.
Insee Cement signs agreement with Hambantota International Port to improve supply chain efficiency 01 December 2021
Sri Lanka: Insee Cement has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Hambantota International Port Group (HIPG) to ensure the efficient transfer of raw materials to the Galle cement plant via the Hambantota Port. The agreement was signed between Gustavo Navarro, chief executive officer (CEO) of Insee Cement, and Johnson Liu, the CEO of HIPG.
“Insee Cement was Hambantota International Port’s first customer for dry bulk cargo and we greatly appreciate the trust they placed in us. We have worked with them from 2018 and have been able to greatly increase our productivity in handling dry bulk volumes,” said Liu. Navarro added, ““Due to the limitations we have experienced in our previous operations, we couldn’t bring bigger vessels with larger volumes. HIP has been a great business partner for us and the port came up with some creative solutions to get our raw materials delivered efficiently and in a timely manner which made a positive impact on our operation.”
China produces 1.96Bnt of cement in first 10 months of 2021 30 November 2021
China: China has increased its production of cement by 2.1% year-on-year to 1.97Bnt in the first 10 months of 2021. Xinhua’s China Economic Information Service has reported that the country exported US$19.6bn-worth of building materials over the period, up by 13%, while its domestic construction market grew by 11%.
Japan: Sumitomo Osaka Cement recorded consolidated first-half sales of US$790m in its 2022 financial year, down by 20% from US$993m in the first half of the 2021 financial year. Its cement sales were US$544m, down by 31% from US$784m. It exported 778Mt of cement, up by 33% from 594Mt in the first half of the 2021 financial year. Its domestic sales volume was 4.1Mt, up by 1.2% from 4.05Mt.
The group forecast full-year consolidated sales of US$1.65bn, down by 22% year-on-year from US$2.12bn.