Kenya: East African Portland Cement (EAPCC) has recommenced operations at its Athi River cement plant after a one-month shutdown for renovations and maintenance. The plant has undergone a US$3m upgrade to expand its capacity in order to meet the increasing regional demand for cement, anticipating an annual production of 1Mt/yr within the next two years. Before the upgrade, the plant’s capacity was 310,000t/yr.

Board chairperson Richard Mbithi said critical components used in cement production processes such as filter bags and refractory bricks were replaced during the upgrade. EAPCC also refurbished its grate cooler system, enabling the company to increase its production targets.

Mbithi said “With the finalisation of the plant refurbishment and the resultant improved production and efficiency, we are confident that the company will accomplish the production and revenue targets.”

The company undertook the first phase of maintenance two years ago and it involved the replacement of the kiln shell which was completed in September 2022. This led to improved clinker and cement production and resulted in a 38% increase in revenues, according to the Star Kenya.

South Sudan: B Smart, an investment company owned by son of a former Malaysian Prime Minister, plans to invest US$100m in constructing a cement plant near the capital city of Juba. The plant is targeted to be operational within 24 months pending necessary approvals, and will use limestone from Kapoeta, 275km east of Juba.

Deputy Secretary for Commerce and Industry, Kuol Daniel Ayulo, said "The plant will reduce the country's reliance on costly cement imports and accelerate infrastructure development."

UK: Seratech has developed a process using olivine, a mineral abundant in Earth's mantle, to produce ‘carbon-negative’ cement. The company's method involves replacing some of the clinker with silica extracted from olivine. Magnesium sulphate derived from the olivine reacts with CO₂ to form nesquehonite, a mineral that sequesters CO₂. This method uses CO₂ captured from emissions sources or directly from the air.

Sam Draper, CEO, explained the process: “The researchers extracted these compounds by dissolving powdered olivine in sulphuric acid. After separating the silica and magnesium sulphate, they bubbled CO₂ through the magnesium slurry to form nesquehonite.”

According to Draper, replacing 35% of regular cement with this silica would yield carbon-neutral results, while a 40% substitution could achieve carbon negativity. Current building standards allow up to 55% of cement to be replaced by this material, although robust testing has yet to be conducted.

Vietnam: Cement production in Vietnam has fallen by 0.7% year-on-year in the first four months of 2024, reaching 57.6Mt, according to the latest data from the government’s General Statistics Office. In April 2024, the country’s cement output was 16.8Mt, a year-on-year decline of 0.7%.

In 2023, the country produced 120.1Mt of cement, representing a year-on-year decrease of 4.5% from the previous year.

Malaysia: Heidelberg Materials has announced its acquisition of ACE Group, a supplier of pulverised fly ash, effective 1 May 2024. Reusing fly ash from energy generation contributes to reducing the CO₂ intensity of composite cement. When used as an additive, fly ash can replace part of the energy-intensive clinker and thus reduce the CO₂ intensity of the cement.

The acquisition includes ACE Greencemt Venture, ASAS Asia and AGP Logistics, with the leadership team from ACE Group continuing to manage the operations post-acquisition. Both parties have agreed not to disclose the financial terms of the transaction.

India: Nuvoco Vistas has announced its audited financial results for the year ended 31 March 2024. The producer recorded earnings before interest, depreciation and amortisation of US$199m, representing a year-on-year increase of 35%, and profit after tax of US$17.6m. Its net debt fell by US$46m year-on-year to US$482m. Cement sales volumes totalled 18.8Mt and revenue from operations reached US$1.3bn.

Philippines: Phinma Corp is set to expand its cement business with new facilities in Mindanao, according to a spokesperson for the company. The producer will establish a cement plant in Davao, valued at US$34.7m, which will bring the company’s total capacity to 5Mt/yr once completed. The plant is currently awaiting its environmental clearance certificate.

Additionally, the Petra plant in Zamboanga del Norte has started operations, with a cement grinding capacity of 500,000t/yr.

India: Ambuja Cements has reported a rise in revenue from operations from US$954m to US$1.07bn in the financial year ending 31 March 2024, representing a 12% year-on-year increase. Profit before tax grew by 22% to US$166m. The company recorded a loss of US$13.7m. Sales volume of cement and clinker increased by 18% year-on-year to 16.6Mt. Earnings before interest, depreciation and amortisation increased by 37% to US$203m.

Türkiye/Georgia: Türkiye's exports of cement products to Georgia have increased by 7% year-on-year to US$17m from January to March 2024, according to its Trade Ministry. In March 2024, exports to Georgia reached US$7.6m, representing a 4% year-on-year increase.

However, Türkiye's global cement exports from January to March 2024 fell by 7% to US$1.1bn compared to the same period in 2023. In March 2024, exports were down by 11% year-on-year to US$390m. From March 2023 to March 2024, Türkiye exported cement products worth US$4.5bn.

Cemex announced this week that it is preparing to sells its operations in the Philippines to a consortium comprising Dacon, DMCI Holdings and Semirara Mining & Power. Rumours of the divestment first started to appear in the media in February 2024.

The main part of the deal covers Cemex’s cement subsidiaries, APO Cement and Solid Cement, which have been valued at an enterprise value of US$660m. However, this becomes confusing because the actual selling price is the enterprise value minus the net debt and adjusted for the minority shareholding of one of the parent companies, Cement Holdings Philippines (CHP). The deal also includes the sale of a 40% stake in APO Land & Quarry and Island Quarry and Aggregates. Based on a press release issued by CHP to the Philippine Stock Exchange, the actual cost of the divestment appears to be around US$305m. It is hoped that the divestment will complete by the end of 2024 subject to regulatory approval from the Philippines Competition Commission and other bodies.

Cemex entered the market in 1997 when it acquired a minority stake in Rizal Cement. It then built the business up to a cement production capacity of 5.7Mt/yr from its two main integrated plants, the Solid Cement plant in Antipolo City, Rizal and the APO Cement plant in Naga, Cebu. However, CHP has endured a hard time of late, with falling annual operating earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) since 2019 and falling net sales in 2022 and 2020. The bad news continued into 2023, with net sales falling by 17% year-on-year to US$300m in 2023 from US$356m in 2022. It reported a loss of US$35m in 2023, double that of 2022. The company blamed the fall in sales on lower volumes. It noted that prices were also down and energy costs had grown.

The three companies buying CHP are all controlled by the Consunji family so effectively DMCI Holdings is acquiring Cemex’s operations in the Philippines. The group focuses on construction, real state, energy, mining and water distribution. It previously announced in the late 2010s plans to build one integrated cement plant on Semirara and three cement grinding plants at Batangas, Iloilo and Zamboanga but these plans didn’t seem to go anywhere. Later it was linked to the proposed Holcim Philippines sale in 2019, although the subsidiary of Holcim eventually gave up on the idea.

This latest attempt to enter the cement business underlines DMCI Holdings’ intent and the group has immediately started saying what it plans to do next. In a statement chair and president Isidro A Consunji admitted that cement demand in the country was ‘soft’ but that it is expected to rebound due to the Build Better More national infrastructure program and an anticipated fall in internet rates. Consunji added, “We recognise CHP's operational and financial issues, but we are positive that we can turn it around by 2025 because of its ongoing capacity expansion and the clear synergies it brings to our group.” He was also keen to play up that CHP is currently building a new 1.5Mt/yr production line at its Solid Cement plant with commissioning scheduled by September 2024. DMCI plans to reduce CHP’s costs through various synergies including supplying it coal, electricity and fly ash from Semirara Mining & Power.

The acquisition of CHP by DMCI Holdings is the biggest shake-up in the local cement sector in a while. DMCI has long harboured ambitions in heavy building materials and now it’s close to becoming a reality. As evidenced by its statements following the official announcement of the deal it is already thinking ahead publicly to soothe shareholder concerns. What will be interesting to watch here is whether it can actually pull it off and whether it will face trouble from imports. Readers may recall that the Philippines cement sector has long battled overseas imports, particularly from Vietnam. Despite anti-dumping tariffs though the Cement Manufacturers Association of the Philippines (CEMAP) warned in January 2024 that workers could be laid off due to continued competition from imports. Good luck to DMCI.