Displaying items by tag: France

France: Ecocem has inaugurated a new €10m research and innovation centre to advance its low-carbon cement technologies and accelerate industry decarbonisation. The 3300m² facility will focus on developing scalable solutions to reduce reliance on clinker. It will build on Ecocem’s ACT technology, which the company says already enables up to 70% emission reductions, with the aim of providing the cement sector with a pathway to net zero by 2040.

Donal O’Riain, founder and global managing director of Ecocem, said “For 25 years, Ecocem has focused exclusively on low-carbon cement technologies. With ACT, our scalable low carbon cement technology close to commercial availability, the new centre will allow us to go further and faster. We will build on the 18Mt of CO₂ reductions already achieved and accelerate the development of solutions that can deliver net zero cement by 2040, 10 years ahead of schedule.”

France: Switzerland-based F. Scott Group is seeking public opinion on its plans to build a new cement plant, named Coastline West, at the multi-bulk terminal of the port of Montoir-de-Bretagne near Saint-Nazaire, according to Ouest-France. The €55m project, covering 6.4 hectares, is now under public consultation until 15 October 2025. Raw materials such as limestone and slag will be shipped in by boat and transported by truck to the site, with traffic reportedly expected at around 13 trucks per day. The proposed facility will employ 35 people once operational.

Finished cement will be shipped by both truck and rail, with construction expected to take 18 months, requiring around 50 workers on-site during the building phase.

France: Axians IAS has successfully implemented its VAS Yard Management software at its 1000th plant. The system is designed to digitise and optimise loading and logistics in the bulk materials industry. It went live across all 14 Heidelberg Materials France cement facilities, including nine production plants and five terminals. The 1000th site is Heidelberg’s Bruneseau terminal in Paris, where the software now manages fully automated truck loading without requiring on-site personnel. In the first week following the rollout, the 14 plants processed more than 3000 delivery notes involving both trucks and full trains.

Jean-Luc Degrange, project manager at Heidelberg Materials France, said “Planning and executing the rollout of this large-scale project across 14 plants was a unique challenge for our team and Axians. Together, we successfully completed this project. We congratulate Axians IAS on its 1000th implementation and wish them continued success with the next 1000 deployments.”

France: Lafarge France has signed a nuclear production allocation contract (CAPN) with EDF to secure a long-term supply of low-carbon electricity for its cement plants. The deal allocates part of the capacity from EDF’s operating nuclear fleet to Lafarge France for more than 10 years under a cost and risk-sharing mechanism tied to actual volumes produced.

The partnership aims to cover part of the electricity consumption of Lafarge’s most energy-intensive sites in France, reducing the company’s carbon footprint while ensuring competitiveness and local presence, according to EDF.

Xavier Guesnu, CEO of Lafarge France, said “At Lafarge, we are already activating all levers to reduce the carbon footprint of cement, from research and development to the industrialisation of new low-carbon products and the use of alternative energies, such as biomass. This partnership gives us visibility and access to decarbonised energy, which are essential elements for continuing our investments aimed at large-scale production of very low-carbon or even carbon-neutral cements.”

France: Hoffmann Green Cement Technologies recorded revenues of €3.5m in the first half of 2025, up by 8% year-on-year, driven by increased cement sales volumes. Earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) were -€5.7m, down from -€3.1m in the first half of 2024. Net income stood at -€8.4m, compared to -€5.0m in the first half of 2024, following higher depreciation and amortisation charges.

Production reached 19,640t, more than 2.5 times the 7833t produced in the first half of 2024, already exceeding total 2024 volumes. Cement was supplied to over 130 sites nationwide, producing more than 60,000m³ of clinker-free concrete delivered by 10,000 truck mixers. The company targets 50,000t of cement sold by the end of 2025 and positive EBITDA, subject to the signing of new licensing agreements.

Co-founders Julien Blanchard and David Hoffmann said “The first half of 2025 was characterised by a significant increase in our production volumes. Unlike the first half of 2024, during which we received a €2m entry fee from our American partner, all of our half-yearly revenue for 2025 is generated from cement sales, reflecting its growing adoption within the construction sector. Finally, we reiterate all of our objectives for 2030 and are targeting sales of 50,000t by the end of 2025, with the second half of the year traditionally being more favourable to the company's activity.”

France: Vicat’s sales remained stable at €1.89bn on a like-for-like basis in the first half of 2025. This was attributed to negative currency exchange effects in Brazil, Egypt and Türkiye, and a slowdown in activity in the US. Earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell by 2% year-on-year to €331m from €353m in the same period in 2024. Cement and concrete sales volumes dropped by 2.5% to 13.7Mt and 3.9% to 4.4Mm³ respectively. Aggregates volumes rose by 5.8% to 11.3Mt. By region sales revenue and earnings fell in France yet rose in the rest of Europe and the Mediterranean. It fell elsewhere.

“The group continues to implement its market plan, with the start-up of Kiln 6 in Senegal, a major driver of the group’s organic growth, development in the construction chemicals business with the merger between VPI and Cermix, and the acquisition of Realmix, which strengthens the group’s vertical integration in Brazil,” said Guy Sidos, Vicat’s chair and CEO.

Réunion (France): Teralta Ciments Réunion, the leading cement manufacturer in Réunion and a subsidiary of France’s Audemard Group, has inaugurated the first cement blending plant in the French overseas territory Réunion, with technical support from Swiss-based consulting firm QUADRA Trading. Located in Le Port, the industrial unit has an annual production capacity of over 0.2Mt/yr.

The project is intended to supply the market in Réunion with cements that have a CO₂ reduction of more than 65% while promoting the use of local materials. The first product manufactured by the plant is CEM II/B-V 32.5N CE NF cement, which has a 30% reduction in CO₂ emissions compared to standard blends. Other cements to be produced at the site will use pozzolan and components from the circular economy including recycled concrete.

France: Hoffmann Green Cement Technologies has reported a 250% rise in production volumes to 19,640t in the first half of 2025, compared to 7833t in the first half of 2024. The result also exceeded the company’s total 2024 output of 16,269t. The company supplied its products to more than 130 construction sites across France during the period. It said that the result was primarily driven by a ‘strengthened partnership’ network and the successful diversification of targeted markets.

France: 80 FNSCBA-CGT (National Federation of Construction, Wood and Furniture Workers) members protested outside CRH subsidiary Eqiom’s Lumbres cement plant in northern France to denounce the ‘outrageous’ working and living conditions of Chinese workers employed there, according to construction union BWI.

Eqiom signed a contract with China-based firm CBMI, which employed 250 Chinese workers to upgrade the plant by building a low-carbon kiln to reduce CO₂ emissions and energy consumption, which reportedly cost more than €200m. However, there are claims that the workers live in a campsite near the cement plant, sleeping in ‘overcrowded’ tents and working 12 hours a day, six days a week. The protesters have called for the full enforcement of French labour legislation and transparency regarding the Chinese workers’ wages and working conditions.

FNSCBA-CGT general secretary Mathieu Dougoud said “We cannot remain silent on the exploitation of foreign workers. It is important to stand up to defend these workers, their jobs and our national collective agreements. We only urge Eqiom to provide the documents certifying that these Chinese workers are indeed under the aegis of the French labour code.”

In a statement sent to Global Cement Eqiom said "The K6 project is carried out in strict compliance with all applicable French legislation, including labour law, and in line with the values of our company. The latest checks carried out by the competent authorities attest that the project is in full compliance with French law."

France: Ireland-based Ecocem has obtained a Technical Evaluation of Products and Materials (ETPM) from the Centre Scientifique et Technique du Bâtiment (CSTB) for ACT1, the first iteration of its low-carbon cement technology. The ETPM certifies the mechanical performance and durability of concrete made with ACT1, confirming its compliance with European structural design codes.

The ETPM will support Ecocem’s planned submission for an Appréciation Technique d’Expérimentation (ATEx) in the second half of 2025, which will assess the use of ACT1 in structural applications such as walls, beams and foundations.

Director of product development and standardisation Christian Clergue said “To guarantee the swift deployment of our ACT technology in the French market, it was essential that Ecocem opted for the most relevant national technical assessments. This assessment provides clear evidence of ACT1’s workability, durability, safety and strength, demonstrating it is safe to use across the construction ecosystem.”

Ecocem received a European Technical Evaluation (ETE) for ACT in early 2024. Further iterations of ACT will be subject to similar assessments in France and the EU.