Displaying items by tag: Lafarge
US: Lafarge North America has agreed with the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the US Department of Justice and New York State to provide US$1.5m towards projects to reduce air pollution in the community surrounding its Ravena cement plant. The agreement also grants Lafarge additional time, until 1 July 2016, to reduce air pollution from the cement plant.
"This agreement will reduce the pollution limits required by the settlement at this facility by providing a significant amount of funding for projects that will improve local air quality," said EPA Regional Administrator Judith A Enck.
A March 2010 settlement between the federal government and Lafarge North America over violations of the Clean Air Act required that the cement producer either install controls on two kilns at its Ravena plant or replace those kilns with a lower emitting kiln by 1 January 2015. In return for the deadline extension, Lafarge has committed to interim air pollution limits at the existing kilns intended to result in the same or higher reductions as would have been required by the original agreement in addition to funding local air pollution reduction measures.
Lafarge announce changes to Executive Committee
10 July 2013France: Lafarge has announced changes to its Executive Committee due to start from 1 September 2013. Sonia Artinian and Peter Hoddinott will join existing committee members Eric Olsen, Guillaume Roux and Alexandra Rocca.
Sonia Artinian, currently Country CEO for Romania, is appointed as Executive Vice-President of Organization and Human Resources, taking over from Eric Olsen.
Artinian, a French national, joined Lafarge in 2008 as Senior Vice-President Organization, Learning and Development. She started her career as a strategy consultant, notably working for Cap Gemini Consulting. She is a graduate of École nationale de génie rural des eaux et forêts and of Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon (section biology).
Peter Hoddinott, currently Head of Energy and Strategic Sourcing at the Performance department, is appointed as Executive Vice-President of Performance, taking over from Guillaume Roux.
Hoddinott, a British national, joined Lafarge in 2001 with the acquisition of Blue Circle by Lafarge. He worked for the mining industry before joining Blue Circle in 1995, where he held several operational positions in the UK, before being appointed General Director for the Philippines in 1999. He is a graduate of Imperial College and holds a Master of Business Administration from London University.
Eric Olsen, currently Executive Vice-President Organization and Human Resources, is appointed Executive Vice-President of Operations, taking over from Jean-Carlos Angulo, who has decided to retire.
Olsen, a US national, joined Lafarge in 1999 after starting his career at Deloitte & Touche. He became Chief Financial Officer of Lafarge North America in 2004.
Olsen holds a Bachelor of Science degree in finance and accounting from the University of Colorado, and an MBA from the HEC international business school in Paris.
Alexandra Rocca, currently Senior Vice-President Group Communications, is appointed as Executive Vice-President Communications, Public Affairs and Sustainable Development.
Rocca, a French national, joined Lafarge in 2010 as Senior Vice-President Group of Communications and has been a member of the group Executive Committee since January 2012. She began her career at Printemps Group in 1986 with subsequent roles at Air Liquide Group, Galeries Lafayette and Crédit Agricole S.A. group. She is a graduate from the HEC international business school in Paris, the Institut d'Etudes Politiques in Paris and holds a BA in French literature.
Guillaume Roux, currently Executive Vice-President Performance, is appointed Executive Vice-President of Operations.
Roux, a US-French dual national, has spent his entire career with Lafarge which he joined in 1980 as an internal auditor. Subsequent roles since have included Chief Executive for Turkey in 1999, taking responsibility for Lafarge's cement operations in South-East Asia in 2002 and becoming Executive Vice President and Co-President of the Cement Division with the responsibility for the Cement business in Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa in 2006. In 2008 he supervised the integration of Orascom's operations with Lafarge. He is a graduate of the Institut d'Etudes Politiques in Paris.
Hima Cement completes bag filter upgrade
10 July 2013Uganda: Hima Cement has completed the installation of new bag filter technology at its Kasese plant. The US$3.2m bag filter technology investment is geared towards bringing the stack emissions in line with the global environmental standards.
"We invested significant resources to conduct environmental impact assessments to ensure that the plant operations met all the required environmental standards for its manufacturing processes and operations," said Peter Robson, Hima Cement's Plant Manager.
Hima Ciment, part of Bamburi Cement that in turn is a subsidiary of Lafarge, expects the plant's target emissions to be below Lafarge's industrial targets. Further testing is expected to be completed by the end of July 2013. Project manager Jackson Molo added that Bamburi Cement achieved 0.01mg/m3 emissions with the same technology at a plant in Mombasa in 2012. The Kasese plant has a cement production capacity of 0.85Mt/yr.
It's been a cold and rainy 'summer' so far in 2013 in the UK. So much so that crowds at the Glastonbury Music Festival watching the Rolling Stones this weekend were lucky they didn't get drenched during 'Jumpin' Jack Flash.' However, cement producers around the world are increasingly tackling the opposite problem as they concentrate on water conservation measures.
As we see this week, the Cement Manufacturers' Association of the Philippines (CeMAP) has started advocating the use of rainwater for cement production. According to figures put out by CeMAP, an average dry-process cement plant uses 100-200L of water per tonne of clinker produced. The Philippines uses around 3.2BnL/yr of water for its cement production capacity of 21Mt/yr, which operated at an 85% capacity utilisation rate in 2012. A simple calculation reveals a water usage rate of 179L/t of cement produced in the Philippines. Though close to the top of CeMAP's dry-process water use range, it is actually less than some of the multinational cement producers (see below).
Water conservation among multinational cement producers has become increasingly high-profile in recent years. In January 2013 Cemex announced that it had developed a methodology to standardise water measurement and management across all of the company's operations. This followed a three year partnership between Cemex and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). In its 2012 Sustainability Report Cemex reported that 12% of its cement operations were in water-scarce or water-stressed locations. Its water consumption for cement was 305L/t. This compares to Holcim's water consumption for cement of 260L/t in 2012.
Other multinational cement producers have put into place similar measures. Lafarge started to assess its 'water risk' in 2011. It found that 25% of its cement production sites were located in areas of water scarcity or high water scarcity, based on 2025 projections of annual renewable water supplies per person. A follow-up with the WWF Water Risk Filter (WRF) continued the assessment, identifying 15 Lafarge cement sites as being located in 'high-risk' basins, with 10 particular sites identified in Pakistan, India, Algeria, Mexico, Jordan, China, South Africa, Iraq and Uganda.
It is worth noting here that most of these countries are currently growth areas for cement demand and so producers with plans to expand in these regions need to tread a careful line. Cement makers that use vast amounts of water in water-scarce regions will be less desirable neighbours for local populations than those that use less water. This, like consumer and regulatory pressures in developed markets, could turn into a major driving factor for improved environmental performance in developing regions. Investing in water conservation measures therefore appears to make sense socially, environmentally and (ultimately) economically.
India: Competition regulator the Competition Commission of India (CCI) has given its approval to the proposed 14% stake sale by Lafarge of its subsidiary Lafarge India to Baring Private Equity Asia, saying that the deal will not adversely effect competition in the country.
"The combination is not likely to have appreciable adverse effect on competition in India and therefore, the Commission hereby approves the combination under... the (Competition) Act," said the CCI in its order on 26 June 2013.
According to the regulator the deal will not cause adverse competition concerns as neither Paris Cement nor Baring or any of its portfolio companies is engaged in the business of manufacturing cement in India. Lafarge and Baring entered their sale agreement on 14 May 2013, which stated that certain actions of Lafarge India cannot be taken without the prior written consent of Paris Cement Investment Holdings.
Building a better Lafarge
19 June 2013Lafarge's decision to expand in Zimbabwe adds to the mix in sub-Saharan Africa.
As we discussed in Global Cement Weekly #104, Dangote and PPC (formerly Pretoria Portland Cement) may be facing off as the biggest local cement producers in the region but the influence of the European-based producers should not be dismissed too readily. Investing US$200m over the next 10 years matches PPC's similarly sized investment announced in November 2012. According to Lafarge, the spend will help maintain the cement producer's market share in the country.
The other point of note from Lafarge's Zimbabwe announcement is the emphasis on the multinational's 'Building Better Cities' campaign in the story. This is unsurprising given that that Lafarge Zimbabwe Managing Director Jonathan Shoniwa made the comments about Lafarge Zimbabwe at a branding event for the campaign. Similar events are happening around the world. However, looked at overall, the decision to place cities at the heart of its marketing makes an increasingly compelling case for a variety of markets.
Some commenters on the Global Cement LinkedIn Group discussed this very issue recently in response to a news story on Lafarge's next set of expansion plans for China. Specifically, someone asked why would Lafarge want to expand in a market suffering from overcapacity!
The Building Better Cities campaign offers one answer. As China prepares to shut down excess capacity, Lafarge's strategy to be in place once the dust settles (perhaps literally in some places) starts to make sense. As a marketing tagline 'building better cities' works well because who doesn't – from Zimbabwe to China to even France – want better cities with better transport links through price, planning, technical and aesthetic innovations.
To give a sense of the environmental zeitgeist happening in China right now, this week we carry a news story on the Chinese Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs reporting 17 Chinese cement companies for environmental misdemeanours. Elsewhere, we can see evidence of continued foreign enthusiasm for investment in the Chinese cement market from Japan's Sumitomo Osaka Cement, despite fears of overcapacity. Lafarge is saying the right things at the right time but it may not be alone in its strategy.
Zimbabwe: Lafarge Cement Zimbabwe has announced plans to invest US$200m within the next 10 years towards setting up a new cement manufacturing plant. Lafarge Managing Director Jonathan Shoniwa told local press at the company's launch event for Lafarge's 'Building Better Cities" branding campaign that Lafarge Zimbabwe would add 1Mt/yr of cement capacity to its current 0.45Mt/yr. He said the move would also increase its market share from its current level of 38%.
In 2013 Lafarge Zimbabwe is targeting a market share of 40% on account of its strong branding in the country and expects to continue to benefit from the continued growth in demand for cement. In 2012 local demand grew 10%. Growth of 5% is expected in 2013.
Like many other local manufacturing firms, cement producers are facing competition from imports. Recently, PG Industries indicated plans to import cement after seeing an opportunity in the market. "I think competition is always there and you can't shut it out completely," said Shoniwa. "You need to just play the game but we have a strong brand. Other players can import cement, but it takes time to build a brand. They can push volumes but it's not an overnight job to build a brand," Shoniwa said.
Shoniwa also took advantage of the Building Better Cities branding campaign to also announce plans for a multi-million US Dollar low-cost, high-density residential housing scheme. He said the cement producer would partner with banks, local authorities and other relevant players to see the project through.
"We are at the design stage. We are having discussions with possible partners and so far it's looking very positive," Shoniwa said, adding Lafarge's target was to bring the cost of constructing a standard high-density residential housing unit to US$10,000. When people talk of affordable housing, the thing that comes to mind is cheap. It does not necessarily have to be cheap in terms of quality so there is that innovation to say we should come up with new building materials that are
cost-effective."
Authorities are expected to provide land parcels while banks are expected to provide long-term and affordable funding for the scheme to enable beneficiaries to build houses at their own pace. Lafarge Zimbabwe is targeting a 29% increase in the top line in the current financial year after reporting revenue inflows of US$69.9m in the year to December 2012, an increase of 41% from 2011.
Shoniwa said that Lafarge Zimbabwe's full-year revenue is expected to rise to US$90m in 2013, with individual home builders expected to continue supporting the upward trend.
Lafarge to expand in China
07 June 2013China: Top global cement producer Lafarge said on 5 June 2013 that it will continue to invest in China, despite overcapacity issues that have plagued the cement industry for years. Bruno Lafont, chairman and chief executive officer of Lafarge, said the company will invest in China using a 'value-growth' model.
Lafont said that Lafarge is likely to invest more in research, production and creating new partnerships in China. He said that the company will prioritise its existing position in Southwest China, although it may expand to other parts of the country. Lafarge expects to earn income of US$32.6m in China by 2015, according to Chen Mei, vice president of Lafarge Shui On Cement.
Lafarge has mainly operated in less developed regions in southwest China since it entered the Chinese market in 1994. Lafont said that China's overcapacity issues have appeared in other growing markets before, adding that inefficient and unsustainable players will eventually be phased out.
Just 69.4% of China's cement industry's capacity was used in 2012, according to a survey conducted by the China Enterprise Confederation.
Lafarge Jordan cement plant protest escalates
30 May 2013Jordan: Local residents are protesting against the use of coal at Lafarge's Rashadiyeh cement plant in Jordan. Despite an agreement being reached on 27 May 2013 between the protesters and Tafileh Governor Hashem Suheim, the protesters blockaded the plant, leading police to intervene with tear gas.
According to the Jordan News Agency, Petra, protestors have demanded that an alternative fuel be used to operate the Rashadiyeh cement plant, as the coal or petcoke used has a serious impact on the health of workers and the surrounding environment.
The Rashadiyeh cement factory was established in 1983 by the Southern Cement Company. In 1985 this was merged with the Jordan Cement Factories Company, which was subsequently privatised and bought by Lafarge.
Lafarge prepares US$47m expansion in 2013
29 May 2013Philippines: Lafarge Republic has set aside US$47m for capital expenditure in the Philippines in 2013 to increase cement production capacity to meet demand. President Renato Sunico made the announcement at the company's annual stockholders' meeting in response to a profit of US$23.6m in the first quarter of 2013, a 35% increase year-on-year from US$17.5m in 2012. He added that the industry expects total demand for cement to increase by 6 to 8% in 2013.
Lafarge Republic is increasing its capital expenditure for a new mill at its plant located in Teresa, Rizal which will have a capacity to produce 850,000t/yr from 2015 onwards. It is also automating the processes of some of its plants, including that in Norzagaray, Bulacan. Sunico added that various productivity improvement projects are also expected to deliver additional capacity to supply the rising cement consumption. He noted that the company is planning to add an additional 2.3Mt/yr in cement milling capacity by 2015 to its current capacity of 6Mt/yr.
"We are predominantly strong in Luzon because all our four plants are here. We wanted a national footprint so we are moving to Davao, Iloilo, Batangas and mostly to Cagayan," said Sunico. He added the company is relying on the growth of high-rise real estate projects, increasing remittances of overseas Filipino workers and increases in the call centre industry to boost cement demand.
In 2012 Lafarge Republic spent US$35.3m on improvements at its cement plant in Danao City, for its Iligan City pre-heater project and the construction of the feeding system for refuse-derived fuel (RDF) at its Bulacan plant.