Displaying items by tag: Italy

Italy: The Italian Competition Authority (AGCM) has reduced a fine against Cementi Rossi by 20% to Euro4.6m. The fine relates to a penalty of Euro184m levied against a number of cement producers and the Italian Cement Association (AITEC), according to the Il Sole 24 Ore newspaper. The original fine of Euro5.8m was reduced following an appeal to the AGCM.

Italy: Buzzi Unicem says that its Unical subsidiary is the first national concrete producer to earn silver level RSS certification from the Concrete Sustainability Council. The accreditation asserts that a company meets criteria for sustainable practices and operates in a sustainable, environmentally positive manner. Unical’s Strada Berlia concrete batching plant in Turin received the certification in June 2019. The CSC procedure also included certifying the cement produced by Buzzi Unicem’s Robilante Cement plant and the aggregates from Ceretto quarry. The certificate was issued by ICMQ, the Italian Certification Body member of CSC. Unical manages more than 100 concrete plants in Italy.

Paraguay: The Italian cement manufacturer Colacem has confirmed that it will start construction of a US$200m integrated 2Mt/yr cement plant in the district of San Alfredo, Concepción, Paraguay in early 2020. Representatives from Colacem, along with the Italian Ambassador to Paraguay and Paraguayan Minister for Industry and Commerce made the announcement at a meeting with Paraguay’s President Mario Abdo Benítez.

Paraguayan Minister for Industry and Commerce Liz Cramer said that the projected investment will benefit the entire northern area of the eastern region in terms of new jobs, incorporation of technology and environmental sustainability.

Construction will take three years and the plant will create 700 jobs during construction. There will be around 500 permanent positions, with a further 2000 indirect new jobs arising from the plant.

Italian ambassador to Paraguay, Gabriel Annis, said, "I thank the Government of Paraguay for its support and I confirm the support of my Government for this investment, which for us is fundamental and strategic.” He added that the investment includes technology transfer, social projects and care of the environment and said that he was confident that they will bring development for a Paraguayan region that needs economic injection.

Italy: Buzzi Unicem says its ready-mix concrete subsidiary Unical has completed the largest continuous concrete casting in Europe at the Galeazzi Orthopedic Institut project in Milan. It pumped 33,000m³ of concrete continuously for 94 hours including 3300 concrete mixer journeys with 106 Unical staff on duty. The new 16-storey building will have a height of 90m once completed.

Italy: Martin Engineering has launched its successful ‘Mr Blade’ conveyor belt optimisation program in Italy's construction materials sector. The service is a direct-to-site service to maintain and replace belt-cleaner blades that has previously been implemented in the US and the UK. Martin Engineering offers a range of conveyor belt solutions in Italy for industries like energy and steel. The ‘Mr Blade’ program extends this offering to smaller sites – such as quarries, concrete and asphalt plants. Martin Engineering expects to launch its ‘Mr Blade’ service in other European countries later in 2019.

Italy: Buzzi Unicem’s sales rose by 21.7% year-on-year to Euro656m in the first quarter of 2019 from Euro539m in the same period in 2018. Its cement sales volumes grew by 16.9% to 6Mt and its ready-mixed concrete sales rose by 7.3% to 2.6Mm³. It attributed the gain in sales to improved weather in the reporting period. The group reported particular sales growth in Italy, the US and Germany.

Italy: Colacem’s Spoleto cement plant has been idled. The kiln has been shut down and quarrying work suspended, according to La Nazione newspaper. The integrated plant was acquired by Colacem from Cemitaly in early April 2019. Union representatives from the plant have asked Colacem what its business plans and staffing levels will be. Currently the plant employs 80 people.

More movement in Italy this week with Buzzi Unicem’s purchase of three cement plants from HeidelbergCement. Buzzi acquired the Testi integrated cement plant at Greve and the Borgo San Dalmazzo and Arquata Scrivia grinding plants in Piedmont. No value for the transaction was disclosed but HeidelbergCement trumpeted that it was ‘well on our way’ to reach its target of Euro1.5bn of disposals by the end of 2020. This follows last week’s purchase of Cemitaly's Spoleto cement plant in Perugia by Colacem. Cemitaly, in case readers don’t know, is another of HeidelbergCement’s Italian subsidiaries.

Upon completion of these deals, Buzzi Unicem will own 10 integrated plants and five grinding plants in Italy. It continues the company’s consolidation drive in Italy from mid-2017 when it bought Cementizillo and two of its integrated plants for the knock down price of up to Euro125m.

The two other leading cement producers are now Germany’s HeidelbergCement with its local subsidiaries (led by Italcementi) and Colacem. HeidelbergCement has 10 integrated plants and 10 grinding plant. Colacem has seven integrated plants and one grinding plant. All three companies have integrated production capacities of around 9 – 14Mt/yr. Since 2012 the market has shifted from six major producers to three. Sacci, Cementir and Cemenzillo have left the field following acquisitions by their competitors. Italcementi was taken over by HeidelbergCement in 2016.

Graph 1: Cement production in Italy, 2006 – 2017. Source: Italian Cement Association (AITEC).

Data from the Italian Cement Association (AITEC) shows that the impetus for this consolidation trend was the reduction in Italian cement production to 19.3Mt in 2017 from a high of 47.9Mt in 2006. Despite this though the country still has a total production capacity of 37.7Mt/yr, according to Global Cement Directory 2019 data, giving it an utilisation rate of just over 50%. Production picked up again in the north and central regions of Italy in 2017 but this was insufficient to counter declines in the south and Italy’s islands. Exports have held steady in this time at around 2 – 3Mt/yr but this represents a doubling share of production from 5% in 2006 to 10% in 2017. Production has been steadily dwindling year-on-year since 2006 but domestic consumption rallied a little to 18.7Mt in 2017.

The Italian government instituted its ‘Industry 4.0’ policy in early 2017 to boost competitiveness. This included modest growth forecasts of 1%. International Monetary Fund (IMF) data shows that the country managed gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 0.9% in 2018. Yet, Buzzi Unicem reported like-for-like net sales contraction of 0.9% in 2018. HeidelbergCement was more circumspect in its reporting on Italy for 2018 but it did describe a ‘moderate’ increase in sales volumes of cement excluding its acquisitions.

With the IMF diagnosing the Italian economy as ‘weak’ and cutting its growth forecast to 0.1% in 2019 the prospects aren’t looking encouraging for the cement sector. AITEC data placed cement consumption at 309t/capita in 2017. This is on the low side for Western European standards suggesting that, although more consolidation could be coming, the market may also be down too. Its not great news for cement producers but the Italian market is edging ever closer to recovery.

Italy: Buzzi Unicem has purchased the Testi integrated cement plant at Greve and the Borgo San Dalmazzo and Arquata Scrivia grinding plants in Piedmont from HeidelbergCement’s subsidiaries. The enforceable agreement is expected to be completed by the end of July 2019. No value for the deal has been disclosed. Buzzi Unicem said it was making the acquisitions as part of its plan to strengthen its position in the national market.

Italy: Colacem says has purchased Cemitaly's Spoleto cement plant in Perugia. No value for the transaction has been disclosed, according to the Il Sole 24 Ore newspaper. Colacem said that it was confident that the cement sector will have a ‘significant’ role in the future. HeidelbergCement’s subsidiary Italcementi acquired Cementir and the Spoleto plant in 2017. In February 2019 unions at the plant were told that the cement producer was selling it to the newly-created company Spoleto Cementir.