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Two stories this week on alternative fuels illustrate their current place in the cement industry succinctly. Sumitomo Osaka Cement in Japan plans to increase the sales of power generated in-house at its Tochigi Prefecture plant using wood biomass fuel. Meanwhile on the other side of the Pacific Cemex US is planning to cut costs and carbon emissions by installing wind turbines at its Victorville site in California.

At the recent Global CemTrader conference on supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs), coal and petcoke and logistics for the global cement industry, Patrick Peenaert of Lafarge delivered a presentation entitled the 'Global Overview of Worldwide Coal & Petcoke.'

In his talk Peenaert revealed, unsurprisingly, that fossil fuels dominate the global cement industry for the energy consumption of the top four international producers, with coal and petcoke making up over 70% of usage. However, alternative fuel usage has grown from 13% in 2008 to 18% in 2011. As price pressures on fossil fuels grow from other industries so too will investment into alternative fuel options.

The Japanese story demonstrates this well, especially given that the economic fallout of the 2011 earthquake on the Japanese power industry has made an alternative fuel process considerably more valuable for a plant with a temporary closed kiln. By contrast the US story is more nonchalant: operations will proceed at the Californian plant regardless of whether the turbines are built or not.

Yet hedging one's bets with power sources is increasingly seen to be a prudent long term strategy in an uncertain world. A familiar refrain in the recent batch of cement producer financial reports has been mounting energy costs. This week's half-year results for the Pretoria Portland Cement in the bullish African market is no exception.

Watch the video of Patrick Peenaert's presentation at the Global CemTrader 2012 conference, and all the other presentations

India: Martin Kriegner has been appointed CEO of Lafarge India as part of the current group-wide reorganisation drive. He will hold responsibility for all of Lafarge's cement, aggregates and concrete activities in the country.

"I am happy to return to India as Country CEO, at a time when the construction sector is evolving quickly in the country. By combining all of our activities together we will be able to support this evolution by offering integrated and innovative solutions at an earlier stage of construction in close proximity with our customers, allowing the full benefits of our innovative products and services to be realised," said Kriegner.

Martin Kriegner, an Austrian citizen, joined Lafarge in 1990 and became the CEO of Lafarge Perlmooser AG, Austria in 1998 before he moved to India as head of the cement activity in 2002. Prior to this assignment he served as regional president, based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Lafarge has four cement plants in India: two plants in the state of Chattisgarh and a grinding plant each in Jharkhand and West Bengal.

Spain: Holcim has launched a restructuring plan that will cut 373 jobs in Spain, 35% of its staff in the country. The new organisation will retain 680 employees.

As part of a four stage plan Holcim will streamline its business operations under a single management, the company's corporate structure will be reduced with administrative functions centralised in Madrid, capacity of cement production will be reduced and further activities in other lines of construction materials will also be scaled down. Holcim further detailed that two kilns at its Yeles Plant in Toledo will be shuttered as will the entire Lorca Plant in Murcia.

The company has made the move as the Spanish domestic market faces its fifth year of recession, with cement consumption dropping from 56Mt/yr in 2007 to 20.2Mt/yr in 2011. In the first four months of 2012 the markets dropped 40% year-on-year.

Japan: Sumitomo Osaka Cement has announced plans to lift sales of power generated in-house at its Tochigi Prefecture plant using wood biomass fuel. The current fuel mix is 85% wood chips and 15% coal, 20% more wood chips than previously.

The group's operating profit is expected to surge by 41% to US$144m in the fiscal year ending March 2013. Sumitomo Osaka Cement does not disclose power-related earnings, but the steady advance of power sales is expected to become a factor that boosts operating profit by US$12.5-25m.

The power generation facilities at the Tochigi plant were completed in February 2009 and went into full operation in April 2009. Current output is 25,000kw.

Sumitomo Osaka Cement suspended operations at one of the plant's two kilns in January 2012 as part of restructuring measures, giving it capacity to supply more of its leftover power. It aims to contribute to the power supply by selling the excess electricity, especially with Japan's nuclear plants remaining offline due to the aftermath of the Fukashima radiation leak following the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami disaster.

Qatar: A new report by Commerical bank Capital has forecast massive compound annual growth rate (CAGR) for cement consumption in Qatar, one of the wealthiest countries in the Middle East. Investment in Qatar's construction sector on the back of what the report termed 'strong economic fundamentals' will trigger demand for cement, with a forecast CAGR of 12% to 2015.

Qatar's current production capacity stands at 6.2Mt/yr, which meets the country's existing demand. However, Commercial bank Capital expects consumption to peak in 2013 and 2014. The majority of Qatar's large-scale projects that are planned or under construction will be completed by 2015.

The report said that Qatari companies would be 'unlikely' to be able to match the impending demand, meaning that it will have to seek cement imports, likely to come from Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

Cement producers in Qatar are planning to further expand their capacity in preparation for anticipated massive investment in the country's construction sector. The majority of construction activities will be in relation to infrastructure upgrade and real estate developments. Qatar National Cement Company (QNCC), already the country's largest cement producer with a market share of around 70%, is going to add 0.93Mt/yr to take its capacity to 5.36Mt/yr in the coming years.

"The Cement price in Qatar has been stable as it is controlled by the government," the report said. "Going forward, we do not expect any volatility in the cement price and believe that it will continue to remain stable at current levels."

US: Cemex USA has announced a novel plan to install four 120m-tall wind turbines at one of its US cement terminals and quarry in order to cut carbon emissions and energy costs.

The Victorville Planning Commission has unanimously approved the two turbines proposed at Cemex's cement manufacturing plant, with the company stating the project would help keep jobs in the Victor Valley.

"Our operations will continue at Victorville even if the turbine permits are not approved," said Cemex spokeswoman Sara Engdahl. "However, the wind turbine project at our Victorville site is beneficial not only to our operations but to the environment as well. The project will contribute to the local economy through jobs created for the construction and engineering of the turbine, and the project directly partners with California-based Foundation Windpower."

The two turbines in Victorville will produce an estimated 6500MWh of electricity in an average year, enough to sustain 650 average homes, according to the company. The other two proposed turbines will be built at the Black Mountain Quarry in an unincorporated area of Apple Valley. They are under review by San Bernardino County.

The project will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and stabilise energy costs for Cemex, while preparing the company to comply with future carbon emission requirements, according to Cemex's proposal to the city of Victorville.

"The wind turbine project at our Victorville plant is part of our vision and commitment to reduce our environmental footprint and contribute to a cleaner environment," said Engdahl. "Cemex is increasingly using renewable energy to generate power for our operations."

She added that Foundation Windpower began working on foundations of the Victorville site in August 2011. It is scheduled to start erecting the turbines in September 2012.

Spain: The Spanish cement producer Cementos Portland Valderrivas (CPV) has announced that it expects to swing to profit in 2013 thanks to its 'Plan NewVal' launched recently. Plan NewVal 2012-2013 is focused on cost reduction and securing new sources of revenue.

CPV's new chairman and CEO, Juan Bejar, said that CPV's earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) are now expected to reach Euro200m in 2013.

Speaking more widely, Bejar noted that cement consumption in Spain came to just 20.4Mt in 2011, down a massive 64% from the 2007 high. Worse is expected in 2012, when consumption is expected to fall another 20% to just 16Mt.

Brazil: Cade, the Brazilian anti trust agency, has recommended that the acquisition of Portuguese cement producer Cimpor by Camargo Corrêa should be approved but that that Votorantim Cimentos should divest its stake in Cimpor.

In 2010, Camargo Corrêa teamed up with industrial conglomerate Grupo Votorantim to acquire 54% of Cimpor, blocking a bid by Brazilian steelmaker CSN in the process. Camargo Corrêa has since raised its stake in Cimpor to nearly 33%, later launching a Euro2.5bn bid for the rest of Cimpor in March 2012 at Euro5.50/share.

Camargo Corrêa's buyout of Cimpor could help competition in Brazil by reducing Votorantim's market share, Cade chief Olavo Chinaglia told the press in April 2012. Votorantim may have to sell some of its Brazilian cement assets to reduce its market concentration. The conglomerate's market share is about 40% nationally but reaches nearly 90% in some regions.

In November 2011 Cade found that Votorantim, along with Camargo Corrêa and four other rivals, colluded to fix prices, hampering competition in the Brazilian cement market during a construction boom. Further approval of Camargo Corrêa's purchase may depend on certain conditions, such as selling assets in some markets and avoiding participation in other cement companies.

South Africa: Pretoria Portland Cement (PPC) has seen its sales volumes drop by 3% year-on-year in the first half of 2012, which ended on 31 March 2012, mainly due to weak demand from Botswana and the Western Cape region of South Africa. However, the overall group revenue rose by 8% over the same period of 2011 from US$395m to US$427m, due to positive pricing of cement and lime products.

"Our results improved despite being tempered by weak demand in the Western Cape and Botswana and fierce competition on cement prices in all our regions," said PPC CEO Paul Stuiver.

PPC's earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose by 5% in the half-year, from US$126m to US$132m. Operating profit rose by 4%, from US$99.3m to US$104m. However, costs of sales were 11% higher than in 2011. The group said that it continued to be significantly affected by higher electricity and diesel prices, which both rose by 30% in 2011.

Australia: The board of Australian building products firm Boral Ltd has removed the company's chief executive Mark Selway saying that a new leader was needed who could 'harmonise' the company after a two-year restructuring process.

Selway, who has headed Boral since January 2010, oversaw a turnaround involving the sale of about US$986m in assets and cutting capacity in manufacturing plants as the company battled weak housing and construction markets both in Australia and the United States. In April 2012 Boral posted net profit below its own forecast and made an unexpected cut in full-year profit guidance because of heavy rain and wet weather across eastern Australia.

"The board has decided that the stewardship of the company going forward requires a chief executive with a leadership style suited to harmonising the changes that have occurred over the last two years throughout the company," Boral said in a statement. The board said Selway would step down from his role effective immediately, although he would remain employed until 31 July 2012 to help with the transition.

Australian-born Selway, aged 52, started his career in the automotive sector before becoming the international marketing director of Britax International plc at the age of 28. After working for the company in different postings around the world he later joined the board. In 2001, Selway was appointed chief executive of Weir Group plc, a Scottish based engineering equipment company for the oil, gas, mining and power and industrial sectors.