Displaying items by tag: demand

US: Eagle Materials’ consolidated sales rose by 13% year-on-year to US$1.45bn in the third quarter of the 2022 financial year from US$1.28bn in the corresponding quarter of the 2021 financial year. Its sales of cement rose by 12% year-on-year to US$261m, while its earnings from the segment were US$79.8m, up by 13%. Cement volumes totalled 2Mt, up by 7% from third-quarter 2021 financial year levels.

Chief executive officer and president Michael Haack said that the results reflected both continued strength in US construction activity and excellent execution by Eagle Materials as Covid-19-related supply chain challenges continued. He said “We continue to see positive demand trends across our geographic footprint, driven by increased residential construction activity and expanded infrastructure investment. These trends should support growing construction activity and contribute to attractive pricing across our heavy and light materials businesses. We enter the last quarter of our fiscal year in a position of strength, with an excellent balance sheet enabling us to continue to execute on our core strategies.”

Haack added “I’m also proud to share that, during the first nine months of our fiscal year, we achieved the best safety performance in our history, demonstrating our deep commitment to our people and their wellbeing. During the quarter, we also continued to make strides towards our environmental stewardship goals. We are now producing and selling our eco-friendly Portland limestone cement (PLC) from four Eagle cement facilities.”

Spain: Spain’s cement demand grew by 11% year-on-year to 14.9Mt in 2021, up by 1.4% from pre-pandemic levels of 14.7Mt in 2019. The Spanish cement association Oficemen has forecast a 4.7% rise to 15.6Mt in 2022 due to an increase in approved housing units and infrastructure projects.

The El Economista newspaper has reported that Spanish cement production capacity utilisation was 50% in 2021. Production costs were approximately 25% higher the before the Covid-19 outbreak.

UK: Cemex UK has launched ReadyBlock Zero, a zero carbon concrete block, on the UK market. The product joins the company’s Vertua reduced-CO₂ product range. Cemex UK achieved zero carbon production by means of offsetting. It said that ReadyBlock Zero will help builders to meet the UK’s government’s Future Homes Standard, which requires a 75 – 80% CO₂ emissions reduction in all newly built homes.

Cemex’s Europe regional urbanisation solutions director of asphalt, paving and building products Carl Platt said “We have developed the UK’s first carbon neutral concrete block to help housebuilders get ahead of the game when it comes to building low carbon homes that meet and exceed government guidelines and changes to building regulations. We want to make life easier for housebuilders to make simple sustainable choices that make large scale impacts on the often complex road to net zero. Concrete blocks are the most common structural component in the construction of UK homes, so by switching to zero carbon blocks, ReadyBlock Zero presents a huge opportunity for housebuilders to make significant carbon reductions.”

Germany: Master Builders Solutions has announced the addition of a new range of admixtures consisting of MasterEase and Master X-Seed to its admixtures portfolio. The company developed MasterEase and Master X-Seed to best enable European cement companies to produce cement of the EU’s new CEM II/C-M and CEM VI Portland-composite cements. Master Builders Solutions hopes that the new products will drive the construction industry’s transition to low-clinker cements and CO2-optimised concrete.

Parent company MBCC Group’s European president Christian Geierhaas said “Providing sustainable solutions is a key factor of Master Builders Solutions’ portfolio and overall strategy. Strong partnerships are essential and support and accelerate the development of significant innovations. We work with major players to continuously develop efficient admixtures to add value to our customers and achieve a long-term sustainable positive effect on the construction industry.” He added “In addition to the usual performance criteria, such as fluidity and compressive strength, our new solutions for our ready-mix customers are characterised by their outstanding robustness. Our admixtures provide an important differentiator by guaranteeing consistently high quality concrete, even upon variation of the cement type and fluctuation of the raw materials used to produce these new, more sustainable cements.”

Puerto Rico: Cemex Puerto Rico has successfully renewed its licence for use of Pier 16 at the Port of San Juan until 2042. Puerto Rico Ports Authority executive director Joel Pizá Batiz estimated Cemex Puerto Rica’s contribution to the territorial economy to be US$20m in 2020 and its total investments in the island to be US$400m.

The Metro Puerto Rico newspaper has reported that Puerto Rican cement consumption was 590,000t in 2020.

Brazil: The Brazilian National Cement Industry Association (SNIC) has recorded cement sales of 64.7Mt by Brazilian cement producers in 2021, up by 6.6% year-on-year from 2020 levels. Home construction work, property development and infrastructure building all contributed to the rise. Capacity utilisation rose to 69% from 65% across the country’s 94Mt/yr, 91-plant cement network.

Kazakhstan: Steppe Cement sold US$83.4m-worth of cement in 2021, up by 16% year-on-year from its US$71.7m-worth in 2020. Its sales volumes totalled 1.69Mt for the year, up by 2.4% from 1.65Mt in 2020. It exported 202,000t of cement, down by 57% from 86,500t. The company said that production limitations prevented it from fully meeting demand, and it concentrated on local markets. Regarding its outlook in 2022, Steppe Cement said “We have a healthy cash balance and are continuing our capital expenditure (CAPEX) programme to increase the production capacity of the company by 5% by mid-2022.”

Dow Jones Newswires has reported that Kazakhstan’s 2021 full-year cement consumption was 11.6Mt, up by 23% year-on-year from 9.4Mt in 2020. A rule change to pension withdrawals permitting allocations for home improvement and construction bolstered demand growth. Exports fell by 20% to 1.6Mt from 2Mt, while imports rose by 33% to 800,000t from 600,000t.

India: Axis Bank subsidiary Axis Securities has predicted a 4 – 6% year-on-year drop in Indian cement sales volumes during the third quarter of the 2022 financial year, which ended on 31 December 2021. The Hindu newspaper has reported the reasons for the predicted drop as extended monsoons, especially in the south of the country, and a construction ban in the National Capital Region due to pollution. Monthly sales grew slightly year-on-year in December 2021.

Axis Securities has also forecast a revival of demand in the fourth-quarter, driven by infrastructure and housing projects. Overall, it expects national demand for cement to grow by 8 – 9% in the 2022 financial year.

Mexico: Cemex’s total dispatches of its Vertua reduced-CO₂ concrete in Mexico reached 284,000t in 2021. After launching the product in its home country on 8 December 2020, the company supplied it to 3820 sites throughout 2021. Cemex says that it enters 2022 with 1580 orders outstanding.

Sri Lanka: Tokyo Cement has commissioned its new 0.45Mt/yr cement terminal at the Port of Colombo in Western Province. The company invested US$12.3m in the facility. It is equipped with three 6000t cement silos. The Daily News newspaper has reported that it will increase the company’s total import capacity to over 1Mt/yr from 0.6Mt/yr. Tokyo Cement says that this will ensure an uninterrupted supply of cement to customers in Western Province.

The cement producer also started work on a 1Mt/yr upgrade project at its Trincomalee plant in November 2021. The work is scheduled for completion in early 2023. Once finished the cement producer will have a total production capacity of 4Mt/yr.