Displaying items by tag: White cement

India: Travancore Cements, a state-owned producer under the Kerala government, has restarted production of white cement after a month-long shutdown, unveiling a three-phase restoration plan to stabilise the company, according to The Hindu newspaper. The company has secured 1000t of raw materials to resume operations.

A company official said “About 540t of raw materials have already arrived, which has helped save US$11,411 in deferred costs. The current plan is to increase white cement production gradually, targeting an average output of 2000t/month.”

The first two phases of the plan include increasing clinker unit capacity, developing value-added white cement products and restoring the company’s drydock. The third phase, dependent on receiving US$2.6m from a land sale in Kakkanad, will focus on clay calcination, green cement production and other diversification programmes in association with with the Board of Public Sector Transformation.

Algeria: Biskria Ciment has exported 28,000t of white cement to the US from the port of Annaba aboard the M/V Anhui, according to the Annaba Port Company via L’Expression newspaper. The exports continue despite a 30% US customs duty on Algerian imports.

The company said it is maintaining shipments by leveraging the quality and price competitiveness of its cement.

Syria: Northern Region Cement has inaugurated the US$20m Al-Fayhaa Northern Cement plant, officiated by Saudi investment minister Khalid Al-Falih, according to Argaam news. The plant is owned by subsidiary Northern Jordan Cement and has a production capacity of 0.15Mt/yr of white cement.

Malaysia: Cementir Group subsidiary Aalborg Portland Malaysia has launched CEM II/A-LL 52.5N with 12% lower CO₂ emissions compared to Aalborg White CEM I 52.5N. The product, part of the D-Carb family, maintains high and consistent early-age performance and is aimed at supporting industrial decarbonisation. It will be distributed primarily in Australia, with further availability across Asia.

Aalborg Portland APAC managing director Fabrizio Piero Carraro said “The demand for low carbon white cement is rapidly increasing across APAC markets, particularly in more mature markets like Australia. This growth is being driven by clear policy direction, defined industrial decarbonisation targets and rising environmental awareness among industry players. As a result, we are seeing a strong shift toward white cement solutions that offer both reduced carbon emissions and high performance.”

Spain: Çimsa Cementos España, a subsidiary of the Turkish group Sabancı, plans to invest €12.55m in its Buñol white cement plant close to Valencia during 2025. This will be followed by €7.1m in 2026 and €5.4m in 2027. The investments will be primarily for the development of alternative fuels, energy efficiency and new business lines. These significant investments follow €10.8m spent during 2024, when the manufacturer launched a photovoltaic installation near its plant to supply 18% of its energy needs.

India: Grasim Industries has appointed Hemant Kumar Kadel as its Chief Financial Officer. He will start the role on 15 August 2025. He succeeds Pavan Kumar Jain.

Kadel, aged 56 years, originally joined Aditya Birla Group in 1991 as a management trainee. He has worked across multiple businesses in the group, including Aditya Birla Nuvo, Birla White and Grasim CFD. Notable work in the cement sector includes expanding and restructuring the group’s white cement business. He currently heads the Corporate Taxation Function for Grasim Industries, where he oversees taxation, internal audit, risk management and mergers and acquisitions. Kadel is a commerce graduate from the University of Rajasthan with further qualifications from the London Business School, the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, ICFAI University and IIM Ahmedabad.

Peru: Cemento Yura has launched a premium white cement, designed to meet the increasing demand for architectural and decorative applications. The producer has a production capacity of 300,000t/yr, ensuring stable supply to domestic and export markets.

Technical manager of research and development Bruno Bertolotti said "This launch is the result of extensive research and innovation. Our goal is to provide our customers with a high-performance product that ensures unparalleled reliability and results."

Peru: Switzerland-based Holcim has acquired ready-mix concrete producer Mixercon and industrial minerals producer Comacsa for US$100m. Comacsa owns a white cement plant in Lima. Noticias Financieras News has reported that the acquisitions mark Holcim’s entry into Peru, strengthening its hold in the South and Central American market.

Regional head Oliver Osswald said "The incorporation of Comacsa and Mixercon will allow us to generate synergies and develop export markets.”

Cemex announced last week that it will stop producing clinker at its Lloseta plant in Mallorca. Grinding activity at the site will continue, along with the shipment of bagged and bulk cement products. The company has framed the closure as part of its decarbonisation plans. The dismantling of the two preheater towers at the plant is scheduled to take place by the end of 2030. Cemex said that it will take this long to allow the cement plant to continue operating, as well as a neighbouring hydrogen unit and other nearby industrial units. The status of the Lloseta plant has been in question before. It was closed in early 2019 due to reduced cement demand and mounting European CO₂ emissions regulations. However, it reopened in 2021.

Readers may recall that Cemex España participated in the Power to Green Hydrogen Mallorca project. Land by the Lloseta cement plant was used to hold solar panels and a solar-powered hydrogen unit. Other partners in the project included energy suppliers Enagás and Redexis and renewable power and infrastructure company Acciona, among others. When the unit was commissioned in early 2022, it said it was the first solar power-to-green hydrogen plant in Spain. The link between Cemex and hydrogen is noteworthy given the cement company’s adoption of hydrogen injection as part of its alternative fuels strategy. Interestingly, Acciona planned to use a blockchain method to certify that hydrogen produced at the site was made using renewable energy sources. Heidelberg Materials also plans to use the same process to verify its evoZero brand of net-zero cement products in 2025. Another recent sustainability sector news story in Spain is the commissioning by Çimsa of a 7.2MW solar plant supporting its Buñol white cement plant in Valencia. The new installation is expected to supply about 18% of the plant’s energy needs.

On the corporate side of things, FCC revealed in mid-May 2024 that it was preparing to spin-off its cement and real estate subsidiaries into a new company called Inmocemento. The cement part of this is Spain-based Cementos Portland Valderrivas. The move is intended to bolster the values of the different parts of the business. The proposal will be put to FCC’s shareholders in late June 2024, with any resulting action taking place by the end of the year. The decision to separate FCC’s cement assets is reminiscent of the financial engineering Holcim has proposed with its US business. However, in this case the driver does not appear to be the disparity between the European and US stock markets.

Graph 1: Domestic consumption and exports of cement in Spain, 2013 - 2023. Source: Oficemen.

Market data was also out this week from Oficemen, the Spanish cement association. Domestic cement consumption grew year-on-year in April 2024 but the year so far is looking weaker with consumption from January to April 2024 down by 4.5% year-on-year to 4.65Mt. This is below Oficemen’s forecast for 2024 where it expected a stagnant situation. However, there are eight more months to go. In 2023 cement consumption fell by 3% to 14.5Mt and exports declined by 7.5% to 5.2Mt. The association blamed continued underinvestment in both the public and private sectors due to economic instability since the Covid-19 pandemic. Graph 1 above shows the wider situation in the Spanish cement market over the last decade. The share of exports has declined and local consumption rebounded after 2020 but has declined since then.

These news stories provide a snapshot of what’s been happening in Spain recently in the cement sector. Oficemen’s prediction for 2024 is gloomy but local consumption has risen over the past 10 years. Exports have fallen but the cement association has started to spin the country’s decarbonsiation drive as a potential positive for the industry’s competitiveness generally. It’s hard to discern right now but there might be an advantage for an export-focused country that conforms to European standards in the future if it can hold onto its capacity. Admittedly, that’s a big if. This thinking along sustainability lines could be seen earlier in May 2024 when Cementos Molins Group rebranded itself as Molins. It described the rebranding as a bid to represent the wider range of construction products it manufactures and sells beyond cement. Oficemen has also pointed out that the local market has room for development given the relatively low cement consumption per capita in Spain compared to its peers. So, whatever happens next, there is likely to be room for improvement in the cement market.

Tanzania: Fortune Cement Co has initiated white cement production at its new plant in Mkuranga District, Coast Region, aiming to meet both domestic and international demand. The plant, which produces 200t/day of white cement, will bolster employment and increase revenue through exports under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade, Exaud Kigahe, said “The Ministry will collaborate to ensure that the products manufactured in this plant cross national borders and reach even the African free market.” He also noted that the new production capacity will reduce imports and create job opportunities for Tanzanian youth while enhancing foreign exchange earnings. Currently, over 50% of the raw materials for the plant are sourced locally, excluding white clinker, which is imported.