Displaying items by tag: market

Czech Republic: Cement Hranice’s sales rose by 13% year-on-year to US$89m in 2021. Its cement sales rose most sharply in its domestic Czech market, especially in the second half of 2021. As a result, the company increased its net profit for the year by 4% year-on-year to US$25.6m.

Czech News Agency Business News has reported that the company said "The past year was marked by increased demand for cement. Especially at the end of the year, we were forced to reduce our clinker and cement stocks to the lowest possible level, but we still had to slightly reduce deliveries to our customers."

Cameroon: The government has enacted a ban on the export of cement, along with other commodities including oil and grain, from East Region. The Journal du Cameroun newspaper has reported that the impacts of the Russian invasion of Ukraine have exacerbated a difficult supply situation of the basic commodities in the region, dating to the beginning of the Covid-19 outbreak in the country in March 2020.

The East Region borders the Central African Republic and Congo. It has no cement plants of its own.

Switzerland: Holcim recorded net sales of US$6.75bn in the first quarter of 2022, up by 20% year-on-year from US$5.62bn in the first quarter of 2021. The group’s recurring earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBIT) rose by 16% to US$643m from US$553m. The company has upgraded its outlook 2022 to a forecast of full-year net sales growth of at least 10%.

CEO Jan Jenisch said “I am very encouraged by the record start of the year, setting a solid foundation to our Strategy 2025 – Accelerating Green Growth.”

The first quarter of 2022 brought four new bolt-on acquisitions in addition to the group’s conclusion of its US$1.35bn Malarkey Roofing Products acquisition. The company says that it remains actively engaged in supporting humanitarian efforts in Ukraine.

Holcim has also published its industry-first Climate Report 2022. The report details the company’s progress towards achieving its sustainability targets under the four pillars of its Strategy 2025 – Accelerating Green Growth. Under the Accelerating Growth pillar, Holcim reached a total of 15 markets with its ECOPlanet reduced-CO₂ cement range. Under Expanding Solutions & Products, it reduced the proportion of cement sales in its consolidated sales to 57% in 2021 from 60% in 2020. Its other pillars are Leading in Innovation and Sustainability and Delivering Superior Performance. In 2021, the company used 6.6Mt of recycled construction and demolition waste in its products, against a 2050 target of 10Mt.

Chief sustainability and innovation officer Magali Anderson said “On our net-zero journey, we are walking the talk at Holcim, taking clear science-driven action to win the race for climate.”

US: Concrete companies have reported an on-going shortage of cement as a contributor to increased costs in the construction industry. Local press has reported that the shortage is the result of high demand, most notably from commercial projects. A lack of cement truck drivers has reportedly exacerbated the supply situation.

North Carolina-based ready-mix concrete producer Metrocon president Dan Crosby said that his company’s facilities are currently operating at 60% capacity due to the shortage.

UK: UK construction recorded its highest ever quarterly total value at Euro27.5bn in the first quarter of 2022. Participants in the industry agreed Euro10.4bn-worth of construction contracts in March 2022. Analyst Barbour ABI has reported that residential construction contracts rose by 50% month-on-month to Euro4.22bn, their highest level since the Covid-19 outbreak arrived in the UK in March 2020. Chief economist Tom Hall noted a year-on-year and month-on-month increase in office construction activity as indicative of a reversal of the home-working trend of the past two years.

Hall said “While the current state of the industry is positive with lots of activity and record-breaking levels of contracts awards and planning approvals in some areas, the horizon is more concerning. Overall, the level of planning applications received in March was low and raises questions about the delivery of the government’s commitment to raise the standard of healthcare across the country and its flagship levelling up agenda.”

Argentina: Data from the Asociación de Fabricantes de Cemento Portland (AFCP) shows that cement shipments grew by 7% year-on-year to 2.89Mt in the first quarter of 2022 from 2.71Mt in the same period in 2021. Local consumption of cement increased at a similar rate but exports rose by 18% to 31,040t from 26,276t.

Kazakhstan: Steppe Cement recorded rising revenues in the first quarter of 2022 due to stronger cement volumes and higher prices during the period. The manufacturer posted sales revenue of US$14m in the three months to 31 March 2022, up by 29.6% year-on-year from US$10.8m in the first quarter of 2021.

Sales volumes rose by 6% to 281,968t from 266,007t, while average prices for delivered cement also climbed. Exports from Kazakhstan fell by 50% as new factories opened in Uzbekistan. Imports into Kazakhstan, predominantly from Russia, increased from 6.5% to 8% of the market.

Steppe Cement estimates that Kazakhstan's cement market demand will stay at 11 - 12Mt in 2022 but added that there was is a high degree of uncertainty due to the ‘geopolitical situation’ in the region.

Brazil: The Brazilian cement market closed the first quarter of 2022 with a decline in sales year-on-year, according to data from the Brazilian National Cement Industry Association (SNIC). This was in part due to strong rains that affected parts of the country in January and February 2022. In March 2022, however, there was some recovery, with a 0.3% year-on-year increase in sales, to 5.53Mt.

Between January and March 2022, 14.8Mt of cement were shipped within Brazil, compared to 15.2Mt in the same period in 2021, a fall of 2.6%. Total sales, which include exports, totalled 14.91Mt, a 2.2% contraction compared to 15.25Mt in the same quarter of 2021.

SNIC said that the sector’s March 2022 performance had been bolstered by real estate projects, although this was not expected to continue. According to SNIC head Paulo Camillo Penna, self-construction, an important inducer of cement consumption, continues to slow down due to high unemployment

Russia: SibCem subsidiary Angarskcement has restarted kiln four at its plant in Angarsk after a decade of inactivity. The kiln was last used in 2010. The decision to restart the kiln was made in 2021 due to growing demand for building materials in the Irkutsk region and an increase in cement sales. Kiln four was first lit in 1960 and was later upgraded in the early 1980s. It has a clinker production capacity of 720t/day. All four kilns are now running at the cement plant.

Tanzania: Tanga Cement has advised investors that it expects a ‘significant improvement’ in its results to a profit before tax in 2021, compared to a loss in 2020. The Daily News newspaper has reported that strong sales during the year contributed to the forecast result, along with a drop in finance costs due to a restructuring of debt facilities.

Tanga Cement said “The improved performance is a result of Tanga Cement’s initiative to optimise the sales, logistics and distribution, as well as its continued cost optimisation initiative.” It added “The company has been able to achieve this despite the challenging global economic and operating environment conditions.”