September 2024
Iraq: Joint security forces have repelled militants from the Kubiasa cement plant in Al-Anbar province. Iraqi News has reported that 18 fighters from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) were killed in the operation. The security forces also detonated four car bombs at the site.
Italy: Taiwan-based Taiwan Cement has successfully acquired a 60% stake in battery and hydrogen power systems supplier Engie EPS for Euro132m. The building materials producer is attempting to become a global supplier in the sector.
Hanson Aggregates buys land in Arizona 22 July 2021
US: Hanson Aggregates has purchased 577ha of land near Buckeye, Arizona. The Phoenix Business Journal newspaper has reported that the company will use the land to produce ready-mix concrete and rock products and. Martin Marietta Materials agreed to acquire Germany-based HeidelbergCement’s US West regional business, which included Hanson Aggregates, in May 2021 for US$2.3bn.
Germany: HeidelbergCement has signed the Science-Based Targets Initiative’s (SBTi) Business Ambition for 1.5°C commitment and joined the United Nations (UN) Framework Convention on Climate Change Race to Zero campaign. The former entails a commitment to limiting global warming to 1.5°C and achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050. Race to Zero membership entails a positive commitment to beginning the transition to a decarbonised economy before the UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties in November 2021.
Chair Dominik von Achten said “As one of the world's leading building materials producers, we are continuously increasing our efforts in the global fight against climate change. We are working on all levels to reach climate neutrality – within our operations as well as through associations and initiatives such as the Race To Zero campaign. Every effort brings us closer to our goal.”
Cemex UK launches sustainability professional development course for concrete specifiers 22 July 2021
UK: Mexico-based Cemex subsidiary Cemex UK has launched ‘Concrete – Focus on Sustainability,’ a Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) accredited continuing professional development (CPD) course for specifiers. The course tackles the key issues for accomplishing building projects’ sustainability goals when using concrete. It covers various industry initiatives and technologies designed to aid these goals.
National product support and CPD coordinator Mat Saunders said “The conversation around sustainability is currently at the forefront of the minds of everyone globally, and as an organisation we have a responsibility to contribute to that discourse in a positive manner. This is why we felt that educating industry professionals on what cement and concrete technology can do to help specifiers, clients and contractors meet their sustainability targets, while still using concrete to build safe, efficient, beautiful structures that we all live and work in, was paramount. Even at this early stage the course has been wildly popular, and we anticipate a significant uptake over the rest of 2021 and beyond.”
Update on South Korea – July 2021 21 July 2021
There has been a significant investment in the South Korean cement industry this week with the news that Hanil Hyundai Cement has ordered a steam-based waste heat recovery (WHR) system from Japan-based Kawasaki Heavy Industries. The 22.6MW system will be used on two of the production lines at the Yeongwol plant in Gangwon Province. The supplier says that installation is expected to generate about 30% of the energy the plant needs and save around 10,000t/yr of CO2 in the process. Delivery is scheduled for late 2022.
This order may be the first investment following the announcement in late June 2021 that the state-owned Korea Development Bank had pledged around US$870m towards supporting the cement sector in making carbon reduction upgrades by 2025. These are intended to include moving away from burning fossil fuels in cement production and increasing the use of recycling materials. At the time of the agreement between the bank and the Korea Cement Association (KCA), Hanil Hyundai Cement noted that the local alternative fuels substitution rate was 24% compared to 46% in the European Union and 68% in Germany.
Graph 1: Cement production in South Korea, 2010 – 2020. Source: Korea Cement Association
By European or American standards South Korea kept its coronavirus cases under control in 2020. A robust testing and contract tracing regime (K-Quarantine) managed to prevent the country enforcing stricter measures until late in 2020. A fourth wave of infections, currently underway in July 2021, due to the more contagious Delta variant, has started to change this. Despite being able to keep its economy open though, the construction sector still took a hit although not as bad as initially feared.
Cement production fell by 6% year-on-year to 47.5Mt in 2020 from 50.6Mt in 2019 following a downward trend since 2017. The KCA expected worse after a poor third quarter in 2020 when it was preparing for shipments to fall below the level last seen in the midst of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) crisis in the late 1990s. On top of this the industry was also potentially facing a new tax on production towards the end of 2020. One large local producer, Ssangyong C&E, reported a 5% year-on-year drop in sales to US$864m in 2020 from US$910m in 2019. However, it managed to increase its operating profit over the same period. So far in 2021 the sector faced supply shortages in the spring. The KSA blamed the winter plant maintenance schedule and a lack of railway wagons and trucks.
The timing of the Korea Development Bank investment in the cement sector is interesting given the movement on the European Union carbon border adjustment mechanism. Cement exports seem unlikely to be affected but business lobbyists like the Federation of Korean Industries are well aware of the effects schemes like this might have upon commodities like steel and aluminium in the first phase and then the implications for car production later on. Target markets for cement exports such as the US, Peru, Chile and the Philippines might all become vulnerable should carbon-based trade restrictions become more prevalent. Of course export markets remain vulnerable to more usual hindrances. For example, in March 2021 the Philippines extended its safeguard measures on cement imports to various countries including South Korea.
Following a round of market consolidation in the late 2010s, the South Korean cement sector now appears to be entering a phase of sustainable realignment. In late May 2021 Prime Minister Moon Jae-in announced plans to hasten the country’s carbon reduction targets ahead of the United Nations Climate Change Conference scheduled for November 2021, including a carbon tax. With cement production on a downward trend since 2017 and the coronavirus crisis far from gone it will be instructive to see how far the intervention of the Korea Development Bank will go.
Dalmia Bharat Group director Jai Hari Dalmia dies 21 July 2021
India: Dalmia Bharat Group director Jai Hari Dalmia died on 8 July 2021 at the age of 76.
Dalmia’s father Jaidayal Dalmia founded the company in 1939 before Dalmia and his brother Yadu Hari Dalmia later took charge of the business in the 1980s, according to Forbes. Together they built the cement division up from one cement plant to 13 cement plants in 2020.
Dalmia held a Bachelor of Engineeringdegree in electrical engineering from Jadavpur University and a Master's degree in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champagne. He had more than 47 years of experience across various industries including refractories, sugar and cement. Dalmia was involved in research and development and had personally received several patents for the company's businesses.
Zimbabwe: Lafarge Cement Zimbabwe has appointed John Stull as a non-executive director. Previously he worked as the chief executive officer of Holcim Philippines from 2018 until 2021. He is currently the Area Manager - East, South Africa & Indian Ocean for Holcim.
Stull, an American national, holds over 29 years’ experience with Holcim Group having joined it in 1992 as the operations manager at the Alpena plant in Michigan, US. Since then he has worked in a variety of executive roles around the world. He holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Akron and an Advanced Management Degree from Harvard University.
Germany: Beumer Group has appointed Jörn Fontius as the managing director of its Germany-based subsidiary Beumer Maschinenfabrik. He succeeded Norbert Stemich in the role in May 2021. Stemich has now moved to the Product Business division of the group.
Fontius joined Beumer Maschinenfabrik in 2013 and managed corporate strategy before becoming the head of global supply chain management. In late 2019 he became the president of the airport division of Beumer’s US subsidiary. Prior to working for Beumner, Fontiuswas a member of the management board of the Bundesvereinigung Logistik, a logistics network.
India: ACC’s net sales rose by 35% year-on-year to US$1.08bn in the first half of 2021 from US$799m in the same period in 2020.Its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) increased by 56% to US$232m from US$149m. Sales volumes of cement and ready-mixed concrete grew by 31% to 14.8Mt and by 32% to 1.41Mm3 respectively.
“I am proud of the way team ACC has recorded very good performance this quarter. With a strong focus on supply chain efficiencies and cost optimisation, the company has emerged stronger and more resilient. Waste heat recovery system projects at various sites are progressing well. The large cement capacity expansion project at Ametha in Madhya Pradesh has commenced,” said ACC’s managing director and chief executive officer, Sridhar Balakrishnan.
The subsidiary of Holcim Group added that it “believed strongly” in the resilience of the Indian economy following the coronavirus crisis. It expects cement demand to grow due to increased government spending on large scale infrastructure projects.