Displaying items by tag: Government

Mexico: Cemex has announced that it will expand its 7.2Mt/yr integrated Tepeaca plant in the state of Pueblo in 2020 into ‘the largest Cemex plant in the world and one of the largest in the entire American continent.’ It did not enclose the capacity of the upgrade, which will cost a total of US$530m.

Visiting the plant on 24 January 2020, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador expressed hope in a boost in private investment in the Mexican economy, which fell by 12% year-on-year in 2019, in the wake of the new Free Trade Agreement between Canada, Mexico and the US. Cemex said that its planned investment ‘indicates its trust in the country.’

Philippines: Phinma Corp.’s cement subsidiary Philcement has ramped up its return to production with the commissioning of a 2.0Mt/yr integrated cement plant with attached terminal facilities in the port of Bataan. The Philippine Star has reported that the company, whose six integrated plants had a majority market share in the country prior to the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997, has invested US$100m on its re-entry to production, including on the Bataan facility, since it announced the return of its Union cement brand to the market in 2018.

Phinma Corp. president and CEO Ramón del Rosario said, “We believe in this government’s ‘Build Build Build’ program and we want to help ensure the success of this program by augmenting supply and offering the highest quality cement to support critical projects.”

Phinma Corp. is among domestic producers awaiting the result of an appeal by the country’s importers against the legality of the government’s safeguard duty on imported cement.

Nepal: The Nepalese government has implemented new cement regulations specifying the minimum compressive strength of 33MPa. The Republica newspaper has reported that this will follow the 1997 Cement Standard in restricting magnesia (MgO) content to 5% and insoluble residues to 2%. Two higher grades will designate cement with compressive strengths of 44MPa and 55MPa.

The government also introduced regulations governing the compression strength, insulation and density of autoclaved aerated concrete (AAC) blocks.

Germany: A Zollernalb, Baden-Württemberg resident who mounted legal action against Tübingen Council in June 2019 over LafargeHolcim subsidiary Holcim Süddeutschland’s use of waste glass in cement production at its 1.1Mt/yr integrated Dotternhausen plant has submitted ‘extensive reasoning’ for the challenge. The Schwarzwälder Bote has reported that Holcim Süddeutschland allegedly did not complete the proper tests before introducing glass to cement production at Dotternhausen in late 2017. The claimant ‘noticed a rise in heavy metal levels.’

At a subsequent council meeting, a Holcim Süddeutschland employee bore witness to the presence of a defective bag filter. By receiving glass ground to grains of a certain fineness, the claimant alleges that Holcim Süddeutschland was able to bypass federal waste regulations necessitating contaminant checks. They said the company was ‘taking citizens for idiots.’

Belgium: Cembureau, the European Cement Association, says it will undertake a review of the targets set out in its 2050 Low Carbon Roadmap (2013/2018) in order to align the industry’s efforts with the carbon neutrality objectives contained in the European Green Deal published in December 2019. Following this reassessment, the association says it publish a revised low-carbon roadmap setting out the key role of cement and concrete in the circular economy and a path to achieving carbon neutrality along its value chain in Europe by 2050. Cembureau expects the revised roadmap to be published in early spring 2020.

“As an industry we are determined to ensure that we play our part in helping Europe to meet its emissions reduction targets. With concrete, our industry has a sustainable building material that is uniquely positioned as an essential enabler of the transition to a carbon neutral society,” said Cembureau’s president Raoul de Parisot.

India: Dalmia Bharat has successfully lobbied the Sundargarh, Orisha district government to request the inclusion of the company’s proposed 446 acre expansion to its Lanjiberna limestone and dolomite mine in the agenda of a village meeting in Kukuda, in which public opinion and suggestions will be recorded. The New India Express Newspaper has reported that, due to the special status of Kukuda as a Scheduled Tribal area, the village meeting forms a necessary preliminary step prior to district government permission of planned works. In October 2018, villagers in nearby Jhagarpur successfully blocked construction of Dalmia Bharat’s proposed Industrial Training Institute. The Lanjiberna mine will serve Dalmia Bharat’s 2.3Mt/yr integrated Rajgangpur plant, which was completed in 2019 at a cost of US$281m and awaits commissioning.

India: The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has lobbied the government in its Pre-Budget Memorandum 2020-21 over customs duties. The body is suggesting a reduction on the customs duty on packaging for use in bagging cement to 5% from 10%. There is currently no import tax on cement and duties of 5% and below on various clinker constituents.

India: The state government of Maharashtra has granted Aditya Birla Group subsidiary UltraTech Cement environmental clearance for a planned 16MW waste heat recovery (WHR) generator at its 3.6Mt/yr integrated Awarpur plant in Chandrapur district. Projects Today has reported that the state’s Environmental Impact Assessment Authority has also cleared the company’s plan to expand its Korpana coal-fired power plant in Chandrapur to 15MW from 10MW. The producer will place orders for construction contracts in February 2020.

Brazil: Brazil has reported a growth in annual sales volumes for the first time since 2014. Producers sold 54.5Mt of cement – up by 3.5% from 52.8Mt in 2018 and exceeding SNIC president Paulo Camillo Penna’s January 2019 forecast of 3.0% growth. Penna has predicted a 3.6% increase to 56.5Mt in 2020. Valor newspaper has reported that Penna bases his assumption on favourable interest rates and low inflation of the Brazilian real as well as the government’s implementation of anticipated industrial policies favourable to production.

India: Market researcher Fortune Business Insights has forecasted market growth of 5.2% in the cement industry to US$463bn in 2026 from US$313bn in 2019. It conjectured that global improvements in road quality and investments in high-grade products will drive growing demand. The industry will meet this demand through advances in cement production and a reduction in the number of companies consolidating operations.

In India, the government’s ‘Housing for All by 2020’ scheme is set to kick-start consumption.

Fortune Business Insights' report is available here.