Displaying items by tag: Mexico

Mexico: Cooperativa la Cruz Azul’s Tula cement plant in Hidalgo has agreed with the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) that electricity supplies will restored no later than 7 September 2022. Federico Sarabia, cooperative chair and leader of a dissident group claiming to own the plant, said that the plant has made losses of over US$15m due to the outage, according to the El Sol de la Laguna newspaper. The electricity supply to the site was reportedly cut in mid-August 2022 at the request of Víctor Manuel Velázquez, the head of the board of directors of the group.

State police intervened during a confrontation between rival groups for control of the Tula cement plant in late July 2022. The plant is the sole remaining Cruz Azul unit still reportedly controlled by former company director Guillermo ‘Billy’ Álvarez and his associates. The rest of the company is under the command of Cruz Azul’s directors José Antonio Marín and Víctor Manuel Velázquez. This group started asserting legal control of the cooperative’s cement plants in Puebla and Aguascalientes from mid-2020.

Mexico: A group of approximately 400 former workers of Cooperativa la Cruz Azul, who maintain possession of the Tula cement plant in Hidalgo, staged a demonstration on 22 August 2022 in front of the offices of the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) demanding that power to the plant be reinstated.

Through a press release, the CFE said that it had met with some of the protesters. After negotiations, it concluded that the reconnection of the plant "will be made as soon as notification is received from the court or competent authority."

Local reports have suggested that the cut was ordered on 17 August 2022 by Víctor Manuel Velázquez Rangel, who heads the Board of Directors of the Cooperativa la Cruz Azul, the legal owner of the plant. The justification was that the plant has become dangerous to operate after two years of occupation by the protestors.

Mexico: Cemex’s North American logistics subsidiary Cemex Servicios Logísticos has changed its name to Alliera. Alliera will continue its 15-year tradition of operating as an independent third-party logistics company, serving customers across various industries.

Cemex Mexico president Ricardo Naya said “For Alliera, Cemex’s strategic priorities are ensuring our collaborators’ health and safety, sustainability and innovation. Within this package of priorities, we always seek growth, as we do now with Alliera, which is part of Urbanisation Solutions, our most recently created business branch.”

Italy: Buzzi Unicem recorded a net profit of Euro88.7m in the first half of 2022, down by 58% year-on-year from Euro210m in the first half of 2021. The group said that its recurring profitability worsened across its markets, with the exception of Russia. It also noted ‘substantial stability’ in the Czech Republic. Its consolidated sales, including those of its Brazilian and Mexican businesses, were US$2.41bn, up by 18% from US$2.05bn.

The group recorded cement sales volumes of 14.2Mt, down by 4.1% from 14.8Mt. Volumes fell by 27% in Eastern Europe and by 28% in Italy, but rose by 27% in Central Europe and by 8% in the US. Excluding Russia, the producer’s fuel costs per tonne of cement rose by 8.8% year-on-year to approximately Euro8.80, and its total energy costs rose by 20% year-on-year to Euro234m.

It implemented continued price rises across all markets except Mexico during the half, with the sharpest rises recorded in Italy and Ukraine.

Mexico: GCC increased its sales revenue by 11% year-on-year to US$320m in the second quarter of 2022. Its US cement sales volumes rose by 6%, with a 10% rise in prices, while its Mexico cement volumes fell by 2.3%, with a 12% rise in prices. The group’s cost of sales was US$220m, 69% of total sales, compared to 67% in the second quarter of 2021.

Mexico: Cemex’s consolidated sales grew by 9% year-on-year to US$7.85bn in the first half 2022 from US$7.2bn in the same period in 2021. It sold 32.1Mt of cement, down by 4% from 33.6Mt. Its cement sales volumes rose by 4% in its US and by 1% in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia, but fell by 10% in Mexico and by 3% in South and Central America and the Caribbean. The group says that record levels of alternative fuel usage and a lowered clinker factor helped it to reduce its total CO₂ emissions by 3% year-on-year in the reporting period.

Chief executive officer Fernando González said “I am pleased that our pricing strategy is yielding results and has fully offset inflationary costs in the second quarter of 2022. With improved supply chain dynamics and continued success of our pricing and cost containment strategies, we remain confident we can recover 2021 margins. 


Mexico: State police have intervened during a confrontation between rival groups for control of Cruz Azul’s Tula cement plant in Hidalgo. A group of workers, allegedly numbering 1000 people, aligned to the faction that controls the majority of Cruz Azul’s cement plants travelled to the site in Jasso by bus and taxi on the evening of 26 July 2022, according to La Jornada newspaper. Another group defending the plant reportedly blocked local roads and used sticks, pipes and stones to repel the assault. The police managed to deter most of the convoy travelling to the plant. However, eight deaths occurred when some of the attackers made it through.

The Tula cement plant is the sole remaining Cruz Azul unit still controlled by former company director Guillermo ‘Billy’ Álvarez and his associates. The rest of the company is under the command of Cruz Azul’s directors José Antonio Marín and Víctor Manuel Velázquez.

Mexico: Beumer Group has won a contract to supply Cooperativa La Cruz Azul’s cement plants with 14 new 5500 – 6000 bag/hr palletisers. The cement company made the decision to modernise palletising operations at its plants following a law change requiring cement to be packaged in 25kg bags, instead of 50kg, from the start of 2023. Beumer Group plans to deliver the first five palletisers in the third quarter of 2022. The other nine machines will follow by 2023.

The supplier said “Cruz Azul and Beumer Group have had a trustful and successful partnership for decades. The system provider has convinced with its highly developed and sustainable technology and a sophisticated concept, which will enable the cement manufacturer to achieve the required performance in its packaging terminal” It continued “Covid-19 presented a particular challenge in this project. Due to the pandemic, it was not possible for Beumer experts to be on site with the customer in person. All concepts were discussed, debated and agreed online and with the support of the local group company in Mexico City.”

Mexico: Cemex has launched a Green Financing Framework. The framework is intended to allow the building materials producer to issue green financing instruments aligned with the International Capital Market Association (ICMA) Green Bond Principles and the Loan Market Association Green Loan Principles. Under the Framework, Cemex intends to allocate the net proceeds from the issuances to finance eligible green projects in areas such as CO₂ emissions reduction, clean electricity and energy efficiency, clean transportation, water management, air quality, circular economy and waste management. The framework reflects the roadmap and objectives of Cemex's climate action program, Future in Action. Cemex says it is the first of its kind in the building materials sector.

“After launching our Sustainability-Linked Financing Framework in 2021, it is only natural for us to build on that initiative with additional sustainable finance innovation in the form of the Green Financing Framework, that will enable the building of a more resilient future for all,” said Maher Al-Haffar, Cemex's Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and founding member of the United Nations Global Compact CFO Coalition for the Sustainable Development Goals.

Mexico: The Mexican Federal Economic Competition Commission (COFECE) has fined Cemex US$89,000 for failing to notify it of a transaction that exceeded the threshold for notification. COFECE also approved the transaction in question.

Cemex has the right to seek legal recourse against the fine.