Displaying items by tag: Argentina

Argentina: Holcim Argentina has appointed Sergio Vaimberg as its Chief Marketing Officer. He joined Holcim in mid-2020 with roles in Argentina and Mexico, according to the Norte en Linea newspaper. Prior to this he worked mostly for Coca-Cola in Argentina. Vaimberg is a certified public accountant, holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) and has a postgraduate degree in leadership from the Harvard Business School.

Argentina: Data from the Association of Portland Cement Manufacturers (AFCP) shows that total cement despatches grew by 23% year-on-year to 12.1Mt in 2021 from 9.87Mt in 2020. Cement consumption rose at a similar rate to despatches. However, exports fell by 13% to 115,000t in 2021 from 132,000t in 2020. Annual cement despatches have previously fallen in consecutive years since 2018. This trend started to change in the autumn of 2021.

Argentina: Welding Alloys Argentina has manufactured and delivered a key set of wear parts for the classifier section of an FLSmidth OK 36.4 type vertical roller mill installed at an unnamed cement plant. The parts were manufactured at a workshop in San Nicolás near Buenos Aires.

They included a new 5000mm diameter by 2760mm high fine separator section complete with full set of vanes. The section was manufactured in two halves for later assembly on the customer’s site with vanes made from 13 sheets of 6+4 Hardplate 100 and flanges from 16mm 450HB through hardened plate. Also included were the lower cone section manufactured from eight sheets of 8+6 Hardplate 100, the upper cone section from 11 sheets of 10+4 Hardplate 100 and the discharge tube manufactured from 8+5 Hardplate 100, all flanged with 450HB through hardened plate.

Argentina: Loma Negra has inaugurated the second production line at its L’Amalí cement plant. The El Cronista newspaper has reported that the InterCement subsidiary invested US$350m in the line, which expands the plant’s capacity by 40%. It previously started up the new line’s kiln in June 2021 but was later forced to suspend all clinker production at the plant due to a union dispute. It previously said it was close to commissioning the grinding mill and despatch unit for the line in August 2021.

Argentina: Loma Negra’s nine-month net sales rose by 27% year-on-year to US$493m in 2021, from US$388m in the corresponding period of 2020. The company recorded adjusted earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of US$151m, up by 29% from US$117m. It net profit fell by 72% to US$32.1m from US$115m.

During the period, the company increased its sales of cement, masonry and lime products by 26% year-on-year to 4.45Mt from 3.54Mt. It said that bagged cement sales remained strong due to sustained demand from the retail sector, while bulk cement sales underwent a sharp recovery in the third quarter of 2021. In light of this, it forecast a relative normalisation of bagged cement sales compared to bulk in the fourth quarter of 2021.

Argentina: Sit-in protesters from the Argentinean Mining Workers Association (AOMA) have blocked access to the hoppers of limestone crushers at Minerar’s Olavarría quarry, according to the Clarín newspaper. The quarry supplies limestone to Loma Negra’s La Amali cement plant.

The cement producer said “The biggest problem is that if they don't solve the problem, and stop the supply raw material, it will complicate cement production."

Argentina: Members of the Argentinian Portland Cement Producers’ Association (AFCP) dispatched 8.79Mt of cement in the first nine months of 2021, up by 32% year-on-year from 6.66Mt in the first nine months of 2020. Domestic consumption also rose by 32% to 8.7Mt from 6.6Mt. In 2020, full-year cement sales totaled 9.8Mt.

Argentina: The Association of Portland Cement Manufacturers (AFCP) has agreed with the Argentine Mining Workers Association union to a 48% pay rise for all Argentinean cement workers. The La Voz del Interior newspaper has reported that the union has lifted its nationwide state of alert as a result of the agreement.

Our latest look at South America starts by posing the question: how far can the market in Brazil keep growing? As Graph 1 shows below, cement sales skyrocketed through the coronavirus pandemic, due to a general recovery locally that started in 2018 and relatively weak lockdown measures compared to other countries. Rolling annual totals on a monthly basis from the National Cement Industry Association (SNIC) suggest that this growth period tailed off from May 2021. SNIC was also keen to point out that, despite nearly hitting nearly a 20% growth rate at one point, the sector was still 11% behind where it was before the lull that lasted from 2015 to 2018. As ever the association has an eye on potential risks. At present these include legislative reforms, price inflation and carbon pricing. It noted that Mexico, Colombia, Chile and Argentina all price carbon already but said that the country ‘has a great ally in the Brazilian cement industry’ on the issue.

Elsewhere the big story in Brazil has been the ongoing sale of Holcim’s local assets. The latest news at the start of August 2021 was that the bidders included CSN Cimentos, Cimentos Mizu, Cimento Apodi, InterCement and Votorantim. The first three companies were reportedly working in a consortium in an attempt to buy 10 production plants while InterCement and Votorantim were focusing on smaller bids to avoid the ire of the competition regulators. Aside from this, CSN Cimentos agreed to buy Cimento Elizabeth for US$220m in July 2021 and Companhia Nacional de Cimento (CNC), part of Italy-based Buzzi Unicem’s 50% subsidiary BCPAR, acquired CRH Brasil following approval by the regulators. Of note on the production side, Votorantim Cimentos started operation of a new production line at its Pecém grinding plant in Ceará in July 2021.

Graph 1: Cement sales in selected South American countries in first half of year, 2019 – 2021. Source: Local cement associations and national statistics offices.

Over in Peru the now familiar gap-tooth pattern of stunted growth in 2020 can be seen in the sector’s cement sales, but sales rebounded far stronger than comparable sized markets in Argentina and Colombia. Sales nearly doubled to 6.42Mt in the first half of 2021 from 3.33Mt in the same period in 2020 and were significantly higher than the 4.94Mt recorded in the first half of 2020. Imports are also worth watching. Combined cement and clinker importers nearly doubled from 0.76Mt in the first half of 2019 to 1.4Mt in the first half of 2021. Clinker imports made up about two thirds of this figure and the Association of Cement Producers (ASOCEM) noted in June 2021 that 88% of the imported cement came from Vietnam while about two thirds of the clinker came from Japan and Indonesia.

Away from the market data, both Cementos Pacasmayo’s and Unión Andina de Cementos’ (UNACEM) financial results bounced back in the first half of 2021. Cementos Pacasmayo attributed the rebound to sales of bagged cement to the self-construction sector and public sector reconstruction demand. UNACEM also noted the effect of the self-construction sector and said it expected its ‘solid’ cement despatches to continue for the rest of the year despite the risk of a third wave of coronavirus in the country and the messy presidential elections. Other stories of note so far in 2021 include new developments in Cementos Interoceanicos long-held plans to build a 1.0Mt/yr cement plant in Puno and a major upgrade planned to Yura’s integrated plant in Arequipa.

In Colombia local cement despatches grew by 34% year-on-year to 6.20Mt in the first half of 2021 from 4.61Mt in the same period in 2020. Cementos Argos reported major improvements in sales, sales volumes of cement and earnings due to the lockdown in 2020. However, a national wave of protests calling for social reform that started in the spring of 2012 forced the company to shut down its integrated Yumbo plant for over a month. This represented 18% of its national sales. The output of other plants in the country was also negatively affected by roadblocks created by the unrest. Cemex reported the same problems in the country.

Finally, Argentina’s cement despatches rose by 44% to 5.52Mt in the first half of 2021 from 3.83Mt in the same period in 2020. Loma Negra reported that its sales, sales volumes and earnings were all up by a similar rate. The subsidiary of Brazil-based InterCement started up the kiln on its new 2.7Mt/yr production line at the L’Amalí cement plant in Olavarría in June 2021 and commissioning of the new mill and despatch centre on the line were reportedly coming soon in early August 2021. Earlier in the year, in May 2021, Holcim Argentina inaugurated a new 0.5Mt/yr clinker production line at its Malagueño cement plant in Cordoba. These expansion projects were ordered long before coronavirus appeared so it will take a while to see their effects upon the local market. However, the government intervened in June 2021 when it persuaded some building materials producers to agree to reference prices in a bid to curb mounting inflation.

This is what recovery looks like so far in 2021 in the larger cement producing countries in South America. The Brazilian market’s growth phase may be waning after a furious period that even coronavirus wasn’t allowed to slow. Peru’s potential seems set to take off, Colombia’s rebound should have been greater (but it was dented by social unrest) and Argentina seems to be resetting to its usual level. Whatever else happens in the coming months the story to watch going forward will be which company picks up Holcim’s assets in Brazil.

Argentina: Loma Negra recorded first-half 2021 consolidated sales of US$290m, up by 44% year-on-year from US$201m. It increased its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) by 64% to US$100m from US$61.0m. Its net profit was US$86.0m, compared to US$12m in the first half of 2020. The company sold 2.79Mt of cement in the period, up by 39% from 2.01Mt.

Chief executive officer Sergio Faifman said “We are pleased to announce another quarter with an excellent performance. Demand continues with a strong momentum, and after several quarters of recovery is now exceeding pre-pandemic levels.” He continued “For the second half, we expect strong recovery to continue and an expansion vis-à-vis pre-pandemic levels, as seasonality and public works should begin to contribute positively. Nonetheless, we remain cautious, as the macroeconomic context may affect the recovery and some degree of uncertainty remains in relation to the pandemic.”