New Zealand: Stevenson Concrete is set to bring concrete made using CarbonCure technology to the country in July 2021. The Auckland-based concrete producer is currently conducting final internal quality assurance at its Drury quarry and concrete plant before opening the product up on general sale. Canada-based CarbonCure’s technology uses a CO₂ mineralisation process during production to reduce carbon footprint of concrete.

"Along with a number of other carbon-decreasing initiatives we are using, this technology is going to change the way New Zealand builds houses, footpaths, roads, pipes, and thousands of other man-made, everyday objects. Stevenson has brought it into the New Zealand mainstream, just as this technology is used in countries like Singapore, North America and parts of Europe," said Anthony Bitossi, general manager of Stevenson Concrete.

Brazil: Companhia Siderúrgica Nacional (CSN) has agreed to buy Cimento Elizabeth for US$220m from Farallon Capital. The acquisition will give CSN an additional 1.3Mt/yr cement production capacity bringing its total to 6Mt/yr, according to the Valor Econômico newspaper. The deal will also give it a presence in the Northeast, add modern equipment to its assets and ‘substantial’ reserves of limestone, The purchase will be subject to regulatory approval.

India: Wonder Cement has ordered its eighth vertical roller mill from Germany-based Gebr. Pfeiffer. A MPS 3070 BK type mill has been selected for grinding petroleum coke and coal. The throughput rate for pure petcoke grinding will be 40t/hr with a product fineness of 2% R 90µm. The mill will be equipped with an SLS 2900 BK type classifier. Due to the high abrasiveness of Indian coal, the mill and classifier will be designed with a correspondingly robust wear protection. The new mill will support the fourth 8000t/day production line at the producer’s plant at Tehsil Nimbahera, Chittorgarh in Rajasthan.

Most of the components of the coal mill will be manufactured by Gebr. Pfeiffer India including the housing and foundation parts, the grinding bowl and a large part of the force-transmitting parts. Delivery of the mill is scheduled for the end of 2021. Commissioning of the entire kiln line with the new grinding plant is scheduled for spring 2022.

Cameroon: Luc Magloire, the Minister of Commerce, has written to Cimenteries du Cameroun (CIMENCAM) threatening to close its production facilities if it raises its prices without approval. In the letter the minister accused the subsidiary of LafargeHolcim of increasing its wholesale prices and of preparing to do so again without consent, according to the Ecofin Agency. Prices have reportedly risen by up to 8% in some places.

Friction occurred between the government and CIMENCAM in 2020 when LafargeHolcim renewed the term of Benoît Galichet as the chief executive officer of its local subsidiary. The government, a large minority shareholder of the company, opposed the decision. The government and the cement producer have also disagreed previously over the price of cement.

UK: Fitch Ratings says it does not expect the financial profiles of cement producers to be changed by decarbonisation efforts in its rating horizon. The credit rating agency expects that regulatory scrutiny, investor pressure and societal awareness are likely to accelerate the building materials sector’s decarbonisation drive. However, it predicts that producers will pass on costs to consumers as there are no substitutes for its products. In addition, demand for building materials will grow, supported by increasing needs for infrastructure to cope with the transition to a low-carbon economy and the physical effects of climate change.

It added that, since there are no low carbon solution readily available, such improvements will require ‘significant’ investment and research. Fitch Ratings expect this to arrive after 2030 to meet the tight 2050 sustainability targets by both governments and companies. The cost of this may be large especially as government incentives to support it are, as yet, uncertain.

Fitch Ratings noted that the industry had made significant progress with an 18% reduction in the global average CO₂ intensity of cement production since 1990. However, due to growing demand for cement, the sector’s gross emissions have increased by 50%. It pointed out the large role China and India have to play in emissions reductions as they are the largest concrete producers in the world. However, Europe is seen as the most demanding region for decarbonisation regulations at present.

France: Extinction Rebellion activists forced operations to stop temporarily at LafargeHolcim’s Port de Javel ready-mixed concrete plant in Paris on 30 June 2021. Members of the climate activist group trespassed on the site to denounce what they called the company’s firm's environmentally damaging pursuit of profit, according to Reuters. The building materials producer was forced to divert its trucks to another site during the chaos. Earlier in the week protestors from Extinction Rebellion and the non-government organisation Soulevements de la Terre targeted another LafargeHolcim site near Paris.

In late 2020 the council of Paris voted to withdraw permissions for a planned expansion to LafargeHolcim subsidiary Lafarge France’s Bercy concrete plant after protesters captured footage of a slurry spill that the company called ‘exceptional.’

LafargeHolcim currently has a target to reduce its CO₂ intensity in cement to 475kg net CO₂/t by 2030. The group says it hopes to become ‘net zero’ in the future. It is currently working with the Science-Based Targets Initiative (SBTi) to define a roadmap to 2050 to, “reduce scope one CO₂ emissions to a target consistent with a net zero pathway endorsed by SBTi.”

Fernando A González and Cemex took to the virtual airways this week with Cemex Day 2021. The investors’ update comprised the usual greatest hits package explaining how well everything is going: earnings growth and leverage levels about to hit desired targets, selective investments and divestments on the way, new production capacity round the corner and punchy sustainability goals turning up earlier than expected. Or at least that’s the way that chief executive officer González and the team told it.

To be fair to Cemex, it seems to be in a good place right now. It weathered 2020 well and now its first quarter results in 2021 compared to the same period in 2019, before coronavirus hit, are looking rosy with cement sales volumes growth of 9%. How much of that is attributable to pent up demand from 2020 remains to be seen though. Its strategy of focusing on markets in North America and Europe appears to have paid off in recent years with its competitors copying it as they have retreated from riskier climes and concentrated on core territories. Its obsession with righting the ratio between its debts and earnings is closer than ever to being realised, with a 4.07x net leverage ratio in 2020 and a target of 3x or lower planned for 2023. That last target is crucial both materially and psychologically for the company as it starts to put it back in the same financial field as its Western multinational competitors and opens up new investment opportunities.

From a production angle, the big news from the event was a 10Mt/yr cement production expansion project between now and 2023. This wasn’t quite as promising as it sounded, as just under half of this was attributed to legacy projects in Mexico, Colombia and the Philippines and some of the new projects had already been announced, but it does bookmark a move from divesting plants to upgrading and building new ones.

The new projects comprise an additional 5.7Mt/yr capacity from on-going debottlenecking, new integrated plants, new grinding plants and reopening idle or mothballed plants. During the event José Antonio González, the Executive Vice President of Strategic Planning & Business Development broke it down into 3.5Mt in Mexico, consisting of 1.5Mt additional grinding capacity at the integrated Tepeaca plant, a 0.5Mt/yr expansion at the integrated Huichapan plant and 1.5Mt/yr from bringing both idled lines back into production at the CPN Hermosilla plant in Senora to support the US market. That last one notably was partly announced in February 2021. In Europe and the US the group plans to add 1.2Mt/yr including expanding grinding capacity at two plants in Europe with details to be announced later. Finally, the company plans to add 1Mt/yr of additional capacity in South American including restarting an idled 0.5Mt/yr kiln at a plant in the Dominican Republic and building a new 0.5Mt/yr grinding mill in Guatemala.

Cemex has also stepped up its target reduction in CO₂ emissions to below 475kg CO₂/t of cementitious material, an approximately 40% reduction in CO₂ emissions compared to 1990 levels, by 2030. The previous target for 2030 of 520 kg CO₂ has been brought forward to 2025. This compares to LafargeHolcim’s similar target of 475kg CO₂/t by 2030, HeidelbergCement’s target of 500kg CO₂/t by 2030 and CRH’s target of 530kg CO₂/t by 2030. The group is planning to spend US$60m/yr on its decarbonisation projects. This compares to a spend of around US$140m/yr on its 10Mt/yr cement production capacity expansion drive over the next three years. Or to put it another way, the group is spending more on growing than sustainability.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t all good public relations for Cemex this week with the news in the Colombian press that one of its former executives is set to be investigated by the authorities over his alleged involvement in the ongoing Maceo cement plant corruption case. The background to this one is that in 2016 Cemex fired several senior staff members, and the local subsidiary’s chief executive resigned, in relation to the building of a new integrated plant at Maceo. This followed an internal audit and investigation into payments worth around US$20m made to a non-governmental third party in connection with the acquisition of the land, mining rights and benefits of the tax free zone for the project. Legal proceedings followed in Colombia and the US. Many large companies have legacy problems to deal with. Just take LafargeHolcim’s continued connection to Lafarge Syria’s conduct in the early 2010s. At the time of writing the Maceo plant is still yet to start operation and is likely to be one of the ongoing projects mentioned above.

Cemex’s second quarter results are due to arrive towards the end of July 2021 but the group is presenting an upbeat image. Sales are up, debts are down, divestments are out and expansions are in. Confidence is important for a multinational trying to convince the rating agencies to give it back its investment grade, so whether this is strictly true or not it certainly knows how to talk the talk. One question going forward at least is how strictly Cemex will want to stick to its core markets if the good times really have returned?

Ivory Coast: LafargeHolcim Ivory Coast has appointed Rachid Yousry as its chief executive officer. He succeeds Xavier Saint-Martin-Tillet, who has been in the post since November 2020, according to the Financial Afrik newspaper.

Yousry has worked for LafargeHolcim in a number of supply chain and sales roles since 2011. His last posting was as the Country Commercial & Supply Chain Director for LafargeHolcim Jordan. Prior to working for LafargeHolcim, he held roles at Teleinfo 5, Unilever, AMS Baeshen. Yousry holds a bachelors degree in information technology and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the École des Ponts Business School.

India: ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions India has appointed Rajesh Kamath as its chief executive officer and managing director. He succeeds PD Samudra. who plans to retire at the end of June 2021 after being in post since 2014.

Kamath is a graduate engineer from Bangalore University. Previously he was the managing director of Air Liquide Engineering and Construction in India. He has also held executive positions with Technip India and Aker Solutions.

Spain: Votorantim Cimentos has agreed to buy Cementos Balboa from US-based investment company KKR for an undisclosed sum. The producer operates a 1.6Mt/yr integrated plant at Alconera in Badajoz, Extremadura that started production in 2005. The purchase is subject to regulatory approval in Spain.

“This transaction exemplifies our strategy for growth and positioning in Spain and reinforces our presence in the country,” says Marcelo Castelli, global chief executive officer of Votorantim Cimentos. The Brazilian-based company has been present in Spain since 2012 and currently operates four integrated cement plants, two grinding plants, a mortar plant and several concrete and aggregates plants, operating in the regions of Andalusia, the Canary Islands, Castile and León, Extremadura and Galicia .