Displaying items by tag: Spain

Spain: Cement consumption grew by 17% year-on-year to 7.31Mt of cement in the first half of 2021 from 6.23Mt in the same period in 2020. Oficemen, the Spanish cement association, said that the figure for 2021 remained 1.4% below the same period in 2019 though. However, the consumption in June 2021 was looking promising compared to both the same month in 2020 and 2019. Exports increased by 36% to 3.8Mt in the reporting period. The association celebrated this figure but warned that high electricity and CO2 taxes could potentially have a negative effect on future exports by the sector.

Spain: Tudela Veguín says that an upgrade to a conveyor belt connecting its Aboño cement plant in Asturias to a terminal at the Port of El Musel will allow it to dispatch 5% more cement. The increase represents more than 100,000t/yr-worth of additional cement shipments, according to the La Nueva España newspaper. Ship loading time has also been reduced by nearly half. The Euro532,000 conveyor was completed in 2020. The El Musel terminal has shipped cement for export to several new countries, including most recently the US.

Mexico: Cemex has closed the sale of its white cement business outside of Mexico and the US for US$155m to Turkey-based Çimsa Çimento. The assets sold include the company’s Buñol white cement plant in Valencia, Spain. The group said that the proceeds from the sale would be used to fund its bolt-on investment growth strategy in its core businesses and geographies, and contribute to debt reduction.

Spain: Votorantim Cimentos has agreed to buy Cementos Balboa from US-based investment company KKR for an undisclosed sum. The producer operates a 1.6Mt/yr integrated plant at Alconera in Badajoz, Extremadura that started production in 2005. The purchase is subject to regulatory approval in Spain.

“This transaction exemplifies our strategy for growth and positioning in Spain and reinforces our presence in the country,” says Marcelo Castelli, global chief executive officer of Votorantim Cimentos. The Brazilian-based company has been present in Spain since 2012 and currently operates four integrated cement plants, two grinding plants, a mortar plant and several concrete and aggregates plants, operating in the regions of Andalusia, the Canary Islands, Castile and León, Extremadura and Galicia .

Spain: Cementos Molins has completed the acquisition of a white cement terminal in the Port of Alicante from Turkey-based Çimsa. The unit includes a 10,000t silo and it will be able to supply over 50,000t/yr from the site. The producer also plans to use the terminal to bolster exports from its 0.7Mt/yr integrated white cement plant at Kairaouan in Tunisia, which is operated by subsidiary Société Tuniso-Andalouse de Ciment Blanc (SOTACIB). It distributes products from this plant to over 15 countries.

Spain: The Balearic Environmental Commission has set more stringent environmental requirements than previously in its authorisation of Cemex’s Lloseta plant’s licence to operate. The Diario de Mallorca newspaper has reported that the authority has followed standards set out by European Commission decisions. The requirements cover emissions, dust and hazardous waste volumes.

Spain: The total CO₂ emissions of cement and clinker production in Spain fell by 14% year-on-year in 2020. The El Economista newspaper has reported that a report by the Sustainability Observatory recorded that 10 Spanish companies were responsible for emitting 51Mt of CO₂ in 2020 or 56% of the national total.

Brazil: ABG Mineração, which is majority owned by Spain-based La Union Cements, plant to invest US$296m in establishing a cement plant and limestone mine in Mossoró, Rio Grande do Norte. Portal N10 has reported the production capacity of the plant as 1Mt/yr. The company expects that it will generate 300 direct jobs and US$138m/yr in sales.

Spain: Turkey-based Çimsa Çimento intends to complete its acquisition of Cemex’s Buñol white cement plant in June 2021. Local government says that the purchase agreement has been in place since 2019 but has delayed by the international nature of the deal and competition concerns, according to Agencia EFE. Çimsa Çimento agreed to buy Cemex’s white cement business in Spain, including its Buñol plant, for around US$180m in March 2019. It was originally scheduled for completion in the second half of 2019.

Spain: Cemex España, part of Mexico-based Cemex, has launched a new CEM-II grey cement with approximately 20% reduced-CO2 direct emissions as part of its Vertua low-carbon product range. The company says that the product provides early strength like a CEM-I cement. It says that this makes it highly suited to precast concrete and infrastructure applications. Cemex says that it will launch the product in other European markets in 2021.

Cemex is committed to 55% emissions reduction by 2030. It said that prior to this commitment it, “had already achieved a close to 35% emissions reduction by 2020.”