US: Holcim has announced the rebranding of its US-based LafargeHolcim US subsidiary to Holcim US. The name change is the first in any region since parent company LafargeHolcim became Holcim in July 2021. The producer says that this regional rebrand marks a ‘significant milestone’ towards establishing a shared purpose and vision across its global operations.

Holcim will continue to work towards becoming the global leader in innovative and sustainable building solutions through building progress for people and the planet.

India: ACC has launched its new Concrete Direct app for booking and live tracking concrete deliveries. The producer says that the app reduces operational follow-up calls.

Managing director and CEO Sridhar Balakrishnan said “At ACC, we recognise the need to improve and lead through digitalisation. We are happy to launch Concrete Direct, a premium digital tool that saves time and money for our customers. With such innovations, we want to enhance customer experience and build a strong ecosystem of partners to support them.”

Peru: Unacem’s sales were US$655m in 2021, up by 43% year-on-year from US$458m in 2020. It sold US$598m-worth of cement, up by 41% year-on-year from US$425m-worth, and exported US$30.3m of clinker, up by 35% year-on-year from US$22.5m-worth.

The producer said “2020 and 2021 have been years of great challenges for the world and our country because of the Covid-19 pandemic. In this context, the company implemented a plan of measures that has allowed it to cope with this crisis, having as a fundamental pillar ensuring the safety and health of its employees, the sustainability of the company and all its shareholders. Likewise, the Peruvian government continues to take the necessary actions to mitigate the effects of the third wave of Covid-19 as well as to safeguard the payment chain of companies.”

India: RCCPL, a subsidiary of Birla Corporation, has commenced cement despatches from its 2.7M/yr Mukutban cement plant in Maharashtra. The plant has a further grinding capacity of 1.2Mt/yr and a 40MW captive power plant. Switzerland-based ABB previously delivered electrification and automation systems to the site of the new plant in June 2020.

Canada: Lafarge Canada has converted its Richmond, British Colombia, cement plant to 100% OneCem Portland limestone cement (PLC) production. OneCem cement’s CO₂ emissions per tonne are 13% below the Canadian PLC average. The Richmond plant has supplied OneCem cement to the Western Canada and US Pacific Northwest customers since 2011. Since that time, it has eliminated 1.18Mt of CO₂ emissions, according to the producer.

President and CEO Brad Kohl said "Collaborating with local government and stakeholders was key to ensuring OneCem PLC’s uptake in the market, and conversion away from traditional high-intensity cement products. As industry leaders, we want to facilitate access to low carbon cements across Canada, and starting with Richmond is a big step towards making that happen."

UK: Edie has named Holcim’s chief sustainability and innovation officer Magali Anderson as laureate of its Sustainability Leader of the Year award at the Sustainability Leaders Awards 2022. The awards recognise leaders from across all sectors of UK industry. Naturalist Chris Packham hosted the event in Westminster, London.

Morocco: The Professional Association of Cement Manufacturers (APC) has recorded domestic cement deliveries of 14Mt in 2021. The figure corresponds to 58% of the industry’s 25.8Mt/yr capacity.

The economic fallout from the war in Ukraine continued this week with the news that Holcim plans to leave the Russian market. It said that it took the decision based on its “values to operate in the most responsible manner.” The company’s Russian subsidiary added that all of its plants would continue to operate as normal while it considered its divestment options.

Holcim’s road to withdrawal has been staggered. In February 2022 at the start of the war it pronounced its sympathy for any affected colleagues and their families and made a Euro1m donation to the Red Cross. Later it said that it would continue operating its business in Russia by following all regulations and supplying the local market. However, at this time it said it would suspend further capital investments in Russia and that it would “not benefit from our presence in this market.”

It’s unknown what prompted Holcim to take the plunge with Russia one month after the war started. At the very least, making decisions over assets valued this highly takes time. CM Pro has reported that the Russian government has considered introducing reference prices for building materials for infrastructure projects and that the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) has been monitoring prices for ‘unreasonable’ growth over the last month. This follows grumbling by the Ministry of Industry and Trade in late 2021 about an apparent low capacity utilisation rate in the country despite shortages in the Central Federal District.

CRH said that it was leaving its Russian concrete business in early March 2022. Yet the decision by Holcim makes it the first of the three western multinational cement producers with large-scale operations in Russia to publicly say it’s pulling out. Holcim, HeidelbergCement and Buzzi Unicem each operate at least two integrated cement plants in the region.

Lafarge entered the Russian market in 1996. Its successor Holcim runs plants at Voskresensk and Kolomna in the Moscow region, at Ferzikovo in the Kaluga region and Volsk in the Saratov region. Together the plants have a production capacity of around 9Mt/yr. Over the last decade Holcim and its predecessor has invested at least a reported Euro1.3bn in three of the plants. The dry-production line Ferzikovo plant was built in 2015. The Shchurovsky plant in Kolomna was originally founded in 1870 and claims to be the oldest in the country. In 2011 it started commissioned a new dry production line. The Volsk plant started a modernisation project in 2017. The fourth, the Voskresensk plant, was mothballed in 2016. However, in early February 2022 LafargeHolcim Russia said it was aiming to spend Euro23m towards restarting production at the site. This was likely due to a boom in construction in 2021. The subsidiary also owns three aggregate quarries in the Republic of Karelia region of the country, near the border with Finland.

Selling up in Russia looks set to be difficult for Holcim. This is principally due to the European and American economic sanctions and the Russian government’s stated intention to nationalise the assets of any company trying to leave. This is clearly why Holcim has worded its plans so vaguely. If or when a peace deal is reached between Russia and Ukraine, the business environment could change significantly, depending on the terms, complicating any existing sale process. Determining how much Holcim might want to get from such a sale in these conditions is complex. Smikom bought Eurocement from Sberbank for Euro2.1bn in 2021 giving it 10 plants. Could Holcim realistically expect to sell its plants for around Euro200m each in the current environment? As for the hit Holcim might take, in its annual report for 2021 it said that the group’s Russian operations represented around 1% of the 2021 consolidated net sales. This would have been around Euro260m. Its Russian cement production capacity was reported as being 9Mt/yr in 2021 or 3% of the group’s global figure of 293Mt/yr.

Finally, it is worth noting though that Lafarge’s charges of ‘complicity in crimes against humanity’ also continued to be tested in the French courts this week. The legal case relates to the conduct of Lafarge in Syria between 2011 and 2014. This is totally separate from the situation in Russia but it does highlight the issue of corporate ethics for the group once again. Following proceedings in December 2021, Beat Hess, chair of the board of Holcim said, “The described events concerning Lafarge SA were concealed from the Holcim board at the time of the merger in 2015 and go completely against the values of our company.” Consider that use of ‘values’ again. Holcim may be about to find out how much it is prepared to pay for its values as it departs Russia.

Egypt: Suez Cement has appointed Mohamed Hegazy as its chief executive officer (CEO). He succeeds Jose Maria Magrina, who has held the post for six years. Magrina will start a new position as the CEO of HeidelbergCement Trading.

Hegazy is currently the commercial director of Suez Cement. He started his career with HeidelbergCement Group in 2007 as a sales representative for Suez Cement. He took over managerial roles in the sales and marketing departments, before being nominated as commercial director in 2017.

UK: Paul Brogan has started his two-year tenure as the chair of Mineral Products Association Northern Ireland (MPANI). He is the managing director of McQuillan Companies and has worked for the company for over 25 years. Paddy Mohan, the cement sales director of Mannok, will work as vice chair. MPANI is an industry body which represents the mineral products industry in Northern Ireland.