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LafargeHolcim was the last of the major non-Chinese cement producers to report its annual financial results when it did so on 17 March 2016. With the full set in, as it were, Global Cement will compare the progress of the world’s largest multinational cement companies in 2015.

The first thing to note is that whilst cement production growth rates have hardly been inspiring in 2015, growth or holding the status quo is occurring. The emerging markets have faced challenges in 2015 following the prolonged depression in the construction sector in Europe since 2008. As Wolfgang Reitzle and Eric Olsen put it in the forward of the 2015 LafargeHolcim annual report, “…our share price has been significantly affected, mainly by the volatility associated with emerging markets.”

Figure 1: Cement & clinker sales volumes from five major cement producers, 2011 – 2015. Source: Annual reports. Note: Sales volumes are calculated for LafargeHolcim for 2011 – 2013.

Figure 1 shows cement and clinker sales volumes for the major cement producers from 2011 to 2015. This graph isn’t quite as depressing as it looks because it shows a drop in cement production for the major producers and it has started to show remedial action being taken. Where growth isn’t happening in a market, pressure builds to find it through mergers and acquisitions.

So, Lafarge and Holcim merged and the decision may be now starting to show promise with its sales volumes remaining static year-on-year in 2015 rather than falling. It should be noted here that the drop from 2013 to 2014 is due to the divestments Lafarge and Holcim both made before the merger to satisfy competition bodies and because the sales volumes were calculated here from the separate Lafarge and Holcim annual reports.

Even more so, HeidelbergCement’s plan to buy Italcementi may be a good idea here. Already it has been growing its cement production each year since 2013. The acquisition could potentially speed up the growth considerably. Elsewhere, both Cemex and Buzzi Unicem are showing signs of picking up cement production since 2013.

Figure 2: Earnings before interest and taxation (EBIT) for five major cement producers, 2011 – 2015. Source: Annual reports. Note: Cemex and LafargeHolcim figures have been converted from US Dollars and Swiss Francs respectively at current exchange rates.

Figure 2 shows one indicator of profitability for the major cement producers by comparing their earnings before interest and taxation (EBIT). This is less useful than cement sales volumes because it covers the producers’ entire businesses including aggregate and concrete sectors. However, it does show the problems Italcementi has faced and it offers one reason why the company might have allowed itself to be taken over. Note also how Cemex has continued to increase its EBIT despite its high levels of debts.

Returning to the LafargeHolcim comments about volatile emerging markets, most of the producers reported tough trading in their Asian territories in 2015. The exceptions were Cemex with its reliance on the Philippines booming market and Buzzi with its limited assets in the region. However, Cemex suffered in its own major emerging market in South and Central America. Despite these setbacks though all of the producers featured here benefitted from growing sales volumes in North America, particularly in the US.

Both LafargeHolcim and Cemex announced divestments promptly following their results announcements suggesting that they feel they need to do more to regain the profitability they once had. LafargeHolcim plans to sell assets in South Korea and Saudi Arabia. Cemex has agreed to sell cement plants in Bangladesh and Thailand and a minority stake in its business in the Philippines. This last decision may suggest how serious Cemex is about tackling its debts considering the strong market in that country at present. HeidelbergCement is due to complete its acquisition of Italcementi in the second half of 2016.

Finally, the major changes to the multinational cement producers will continue in 2016 as CRH asserts itself following its major acquisitions from Lafarge and Holcim in 2015. Already its Europe Heavyside Divison reported sales revenue of Euro3.61bn in 2015 surpassing that of Buzzi Unicem. Other international producers such as Eurocement, InterCement and Votorantim were also poised for continuing growing but poor domestic markets (Russia and Brazil) may cripple their ambitions in the short term.

UK: Hanson Cement has appointed Robert Keough as technical development manager at its cement plant in Ketton, Lincolnshire. His role will involve promoting the sustainability credentials of concrete specifications and emphasising the use of ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS) as a sustainable cement replacement product.

Keough has two years’ experience working for Hanson UK’s parent company, HeidelbergCement Group, as an engineer in training, giving him a firm foundation in the organisation’s values. During this time he worked in the continuous improvement team where he focused on reducing costs and increasing operational performance across the aggregates business.

Keough, aged 26 years, holds a bachelors degree in chemistry with management from the University of Bath and a master’s degree in minerals engineering from the University of Exeter. He holds experience with the financial services company Hargreaves Lansdown.

Chad: Prime Minister Albert Pahimi Padacké has laid the first stone for the construction for a cement plant in Ngara. The initial production capacity of the new plant will be 0.5Mt/yr and this is planned to increase to 3Mt/yr, according to local press.

The plant is a joint project between Chad and China. The cost of construction will be US$52m and the building should be completed by April 2017. The project will create 300 jobs initially and this may rise to up to 1000 if the plant reaches its higher production capacity.

Ciment du Tchad, a subsidiary of government-owned SONaCIM, opened the country’s first cement plant at Baore in 2011. The 0.2Mt/yr plant reached its full capacity output in 2012.

Myanmar: Hundreds of protestors have gathered in Hpa-an to object against a revived proposal to build a 5000t/day cement plant in Mi Karen and to develop a nearby limestone quarry. The project was originally put on hold in 2014 pending a public consultation, according to the Irrawaddy newspaper.

Protestors held a 'no cement' prayer vigil demanding that the project be scrapped. Local residents fear that the proposed cement plant will require land to be confiscated to build it as well as citing environmental and public health concerns.

Hpa-an has two existing cement plants in Myaingkalay with a combined cement production capacity of 4900t/day. These are run by the government and the military’s Union of Myanmar Economic Holdings Limited (UMEHL) respectively.

India: Dalmia Bharat has merged OCL India Limited and Dalmia Cement East Limited ‘Bokaro’ with Odisha Cement Limited. The resulting company will be called OCL India Limited. It has also amalgamated Adhunik Cement with Dalmia Cement (Bharat) Limited (DCBL) and transferred the power assets in Dalmia Cement Bharat Power Ventures Limited to DCBL.

In a statement the Indian cement producer added that the move would simplify its corporate structure leading to significant unrealised benefits. It added that following the consolidation OCL will become the largest Portland slag cement producer in India.

In early March 2016 Dalmia Bharat received approval from the Competition Commission of India to acquire a 15% stake in its subsidiary Dalmia Cement Bharat from private equity firm KKR for over US$181m in a cash and stock deal. After the purchase, Dalmia Cement Bharat became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Dalmia Bharat.

Dalmia Bharat runs cement and power businesses. The group has a presence in southern and eastern India, including the northeast. Dalmia Bharat has a cement production capacity of 25Mt/yr.

China: China National Building Material Company's (CNBM) net profit has fallen by 83% year-on-year to US$157m in 2015. Its revenue fell by 17.8% to US$15.4bn. China's largest cement producer has blamed the loss of profits on a steep drop in cement sales due to a national slowdown in fixed-asset investments, infrastructure construction and real estate investments.

Two of CNBM's cement subsidiaries also reported falling financial results. China United saw its sales fall by 28% and South Cement reported that its revenue fell by 21%.

The state-owned building materials company also produces gypsum wallboard, insulation materials and ceiling systems. Revenue from the sale of lightweight building materials fell by 7.6% to US$1.09bn as the price of gypsum wallboard fell. However, revenue from mineral wool insulation sales and composite materials rose by 25.3% to US$501m due to increased sales of pipes, tanks and rotor blades.

US: Cement consumption in the US will rise by 3.4% in 2016, according to a report from the Portland Cement Association (PCA). The forecast has been revised down from the PCA’s previous forecast of 5%. The PCA expects cement consumption in 2017 to grow by 4.3%.

“The new forecast reflects the implementation of the new multi-year highway bill, Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act,” said Edward Sullivan, PCA chief economist and group vice-president. “However, our forecast still reflects a deterioration in global growth conditions, an even weaker projection for oil prices, and a tightening of US monetary policy.”

Iran/Pakistan: An Iranian cement producer has revealed plans that Pakistan will help Iran export cement to East Asian countries. Morteza Lotfi, head of the Fars & Khuzestan Cement Company, has said that Iran will supply cement to Pakistan and in return Pakistan will export the same amount of cement to its neighbouring countries under Iran’s name, the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) has reported.

Lotfi said that Pakistan has the infrastructure to export cement to its neighbours but it doesn’t produce enough cement to meet its domestic consumption. Therefore the two countries agreed on a cement swap. He added that Iran’s annual capacity for producing cement is about 80Mt/yr. Pakistan produces about 40Mt/yr. According to the agreement, Iran will also launch a clinker grinding unit in Pakistan.

Twenty-four countries, including Iraq, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Pakistan, Qatar, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Georgia, Oman, India and China are among the main buyers of Iran’s cement. Tehran exported 19Mt of cement and clinker in 2014.

India: The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has approved Anjani Portland Cement for a rights issue to raise US$11.3m. The proceeds from the offering will be used to build a 16MW coal-based captive power plant at one of the company's cement plants.

SEBI received draft documents for the rights issue on 30 December 2015 and issued its 'observations' on 23 March 2016. Issuance of 'observations' by SEBI is considered as a clearance to the issuer to go ahead with the share issues.

India: Shree Cement has set aside US$905m to build three new integrated cement plants with a production capacity of 10Mt/yr. The first new plant in the line will have a production capacity of 3Mt/yr and will be situated in Baloda Bazar, Chhattisgarh. The Indian cement producer successfully bid for limestone deposits in Baloda Bazar in February 2016. The new plant will be announced by July 2016, according to the Business Standard newspaper.

“We will be bidding in at least 12 more limestone auctions and hope to win three to four of these. This will help us set up plants to increase our capacity,” said the Managing Director of Shree Cement, H M Bangur.

At present Shree Cement has a cement production capacity of 23.6Mt/yr from three clinker plants and six cement grinding plants in the states of Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Haryana and Chhattisgarh. The expansion plans will be funded by the company’s internal accruals.