Displaying items by tag: Americas

Mexico: Cemex will invest US$1.4bn in 2025 to strengthen its financial position, maintain liquidity and focus on projects delivering high profitability, including potential acquisitions in the US. Between January and March 2025, it invested US$221m, down from US$249m in the same period of 2024. It expects to invest a further US$1.15bn over the rest of 2025, subject to financial results and market conditions.

Cemex CEO Jaime Muguiro Domínguez said that the company will eventually transition its capital expenditure to acquisitions of small and medium-sized companies in the US that can ‘provide greater profitability.’ He added “Given the increased uncertainty in the current global macroeconomic environment, we will make sure that our capital allocation decisions do not compromise our financial metrics.”

US: The Trump administration has cancelled a US$500m grant awarded in December 2024 to National Cement in California for the conversion of its Lebec cement plant into the state’s first net-zero cement facility. The project, valued at US$891m, aimed to switch to limestone calcined clay cement and use agricultural waste as fuel, with CO₂ captured for permanent underground storage, according to the Bakersfield Californian newspaper. It was expected to create 20 - 25 permanent jobs. The US Department of Energy (DOE) said the project was among 24 grants worth US$3.7bn cancelled due to failure “to advance the energy needs of the American people,” and cited economic infeasibility and poor return on taxpayer investment.

US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright said that the previous administration “failed to conduct a thorough financial review before signing away billions of taxpayer dollars.”

Executive director Steven Nadel of the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy said “Choosing to cancel these awards is shortsighted, and I think we're going to look back at this moment with regret.”

The project was one of 33 cement, steel and aluminium decarbonisation projects awarded DOE grants in 2023. The project turned up on an April 2025 list of 39 projects the DOE's Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations was considering terminating.

Switzerland/US: Holcim will complete the 100% spin-off of its North American business, Amrize, with trading expected to begin on 23 June 2025. The US Securities and Exchange Commission has declared effective the Amrize Form 10 Registration Statement, and Amrize has received authorisation to list shares on the New York Stock Exchange and the SIX Swiss Exchange under ‘AMRZ’.

Holcim shareholders approved the move with 99.75% in favour at the company’s annual general meeting on 14 May 2025. Each Holcim shareholder will receive one Amrize share per Holcim share owned as of close of business on 20 June 2025. The spin-off will be treated as tax neutral for Swiss tax and tax-free for US federal income tax purposes. S&P Global Ratings and Moody’s Ratings rated Amrize at BBB+ and Baa1, respectively, both with stable outlooks.

Brazil: Votorantim Cimentos has received and begun installing a new cement mill at its Salto de Pirapora plant near São Paulo as part of its US$878m national expansion programme.

The 210t mill took six months to arrive from China via ship, and was then transported by a truck convoy from the Port of Santos to the plant. The mill will increase the plant’s capacity by 1Mt/yr. The unit is part of the Salto-Santa Helena complex, which will see its capacity grow by 20% when the expansion completes in the second half of 2025. Construction began in the first half of 2024.

General manager Rafael Frederico said “We are celebrating a new phase in the expansion project of the Salto de Pirapora plant with the arrival of the mill and all the equipment for assembling the new mill. The operation to transport the equipment from China to our unit was complex and executed with great operational excellence by our multidisciplinary teams and partners.”

US: Monarch Cement and Evergy Energy Solutions have celebrated the completion of a 39-hectare solar array, with a capacity of 20MW, according to The Chanute Tribune. The facility was inaugurated with a ribbon cutting ceremony attended by representatives from both companies. It will supply up to 33% of Monarch’s Humboldt cement plant’s energy needs. Monarch Cement president Kent Webber said the project took three years to complete.

Evergy also planted native pollinator-friendly grasses and plants to boost underground biomass, improve water infiltration and offer the potential to capture CO₂. The project reduces water demand compared to conventional power generation.

US: Fortera has achieved ISO 9001:2015 certification for its ReCarb Plant in Redding, California, which produces 15,000t/yr of ReAct low-carbon cement. The international certification establishes protocols for quality management systems and ensures delivery of products and services that meet regulatory requirements. Fortera said that the certification process involved months of internal audits, documentation of operating procedures and responding to third party feedback.

US: Microsoft has agreed to buy 0.62Mt of cement from Sublime Systems over the next 6 - 9 years. The low-carbon cement producer will supply its product from its first commercial factory in Holyoke, Massachusetts and its subsequent full-scale production factory. The purchase marks the first binding commitment for Sublime's full-scale plant, which it plans to bring online in 2030, two years after its plans to open its first commercial facility in Holyoke. The Holyoke plant is due to break ground in mid 2025.

The Somerville-based startup structured the deal using a ‘book and claim’ system that allows Microsoft to purchase cement and its environmental attributes separately when needed. The company says this approach is the first-of-its-kind in the cement industry, adapting a model previously used in renewable energy and sustainable aviation fuel markets. Under the agreement, Microsoft commits to using the environmental value of Sublime's cement in all cases, even when the physical material can't be deployed in nearby Microsoft construction projects.

“Sublime’s mission is to have a swift and massive impact measured in the amount of cement we produce and sell. So we are super-focused on increasing production,” said Leah Ellis, CEO of Sublime Systems. “We can't stop with Microsoft. We want to make sure we're supplying our material to many different types of infrastructure, so we'll also be pursuing various contracts and purchase agreements with folks who represent different types of the built environment.”

US: Eagle Materials recorded net earnings of US$463m of in the 2025 fiscal year (FY2025), which ended on 31 March 2025. This represented a 3% year-on-year fall. The company achieved a record revenue of US$2.3bn, marginally higher than the amount seen in FY2024.

Eagle Materials’ revenues from its Heavy Materials segment, which includes cement, concrete and aggregates, fell by 2% year-on-year to US$1.4bn. Net earnings from this sector were US$320m, 6% lower year-on-year. Cement volumes were also down by 5% to 6.9Mt.

Commenting on the annual results, Michael Haack, President and CEO, said “We are pleased to report another year of strong financial, strategic and operational performance at Eagle. In FY2025, we generated record revenues of US$2.3bn and a gross profit margin of 30%, continued to advance our long-term growth and value-creation strategies and achieved important milestones in employee health and safety.”

Haack added that results in the Heavy Material sector were ‘dented’ by adverse weather in January and February 2025. Higher production costs also dragged on results as the company brought forward an annual maintenance outage at one facility and experienced weather-related interruptions at other facilities.

Peru: National cement shipments in April 2025 fell by 1% year-on-year to 958,000t, matching the cumulative figure for the past 12 months. Cement production dropped by 2% year-on-year to 855,000t, while clinker production also declined by 2% year-on-year to 786,000t. Clinker output was down by 9% between April 2024 and April 2025.

Cement exports rose by 4% year-on-year to 9400t in April 2025 and by 3% over the 12-month period. Clinker exports dropped by 1% year-on-year to 35,800t in April 2025 and by 28% from April 2024 to April 2025. Cement imports increased by 2% year-on-year to 54,000t in April 2025 and by 73% over the 12-month period. Clinker imports fell by 21% year-on-year to 70,000t in April 2025 but rose by 21% on a 12-month basis.

Peru: Cemento Yura, a subsidiary of Grupo Gloria, has launched a 28MW photovoltaic plant, the first in the Peruvian cement sector, according to M-Brain News.

The 45-hectare facility consists of 51,264 photovoltaic modules and will generate 80.65GW/yr of electricity, covering around 30% of the Yura cement plant’s energy needs. The project cost US$23.5m.