Global Cement News

US: Eduardo Garcia has joined Loesche America to support the sales and marketing team for the South American market.

Garcia holds a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering and a MBA with a

concentration in supply chain management. His prior experience has been within the cement industry with Cemex in Venezuela and more recently for Holcim Group Support in the US. In his previous positions Garcia's responsibilities ranged from contract negotiation of major capital projects, to the operation and maintenance of cement plants and cement marine terminals.

At Loesche America Garcia will responsible for aiding in the definition and execution of sales and marketing strategies to further increase the sales potential in South America. Garcia joined Loesche America in 2012.

Thailand: Siam Cement has reported that it has more than doubled its quarterly net profit as Thailand rebuilt from floods and demand for construction materials and petrochemicals surged. Southeast Asia's second biggest cement maker posted a net profit of US$232m in the October 2012 to December 2012 period, a rise of 116% compared to US$107m in the same period in 2011. Revenue from sales rose by 14% to US$3.35bn.

"An increase of 116% year-on-year was largely due to the sales recovery of the construction-related businesses from floods in the fourth quarter of 2011," the company said in a statement.

Year-on-year increases in revenue and sales were more modest when compared to the previous quarter in 2012. Revenue fell by 4% compared to the July 2012 to September 2012 period and profit increased by 8%. Revenue for the company's cement sector rose by 36% to US$576m in the fourth quarter of 2012. Profit rose by 75% to US$71.1m.

In its statement Siam Cement reported that its export market sales volume dropped by 30% quarter-on-quarter to 1Mt due to seasonal factors and tight supply as a result of plant maintenance. On year-on-year basis, export volume decreased by 22% as a result of the conversion of exports volume to serve the domestic market. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) increased by 42% year-on-year due to the better domestic cement market but decreased by 12% quarter-on-quarter to US$117m due to plant maintenance and higher electricity costs.

Siam Cement is Southeast Asia's second largest cement maker with a cement production capacity of 24.2Mt/yr. It is 30% owned by the Thai Royal family's investment arm, the Crown Property Bureau. The company said future profit growth would be partly driven by construction across the developing Southeast Asian nations, where it aims to invest $6.7bn between 2013 and 2017.

Saudi Arabia: Southern Province Cement Company has announced the start of commissioning of its third mill at its Jazan plant, which started on 27 January 2013. It is expected that commissioning will be completed by 15 March 2013.

Spain: Mexican cement company Cemex is currently preparing a second downsizing plan for its workforce in Spain. Over the 30 days to 28 February 2012 the company is expected to negotiate with the trade unions the dismissal of up to 156 employees out of a total of 1077 employees in Spain.

The move is in line with the flagging demand as well as with Cemex's strategic plan to adapt its production capacity. At the end of 2012 Cemex cut 290 jobs in Spain in a first round of job-cuts.

Iran: In January 2013 the seasonal decline of cement demand in Iran led to large stocks of clinker in some plants. For example: ShahreCord Cement currently has around 0.45Mt of clinker, Momtazan Cement has a clinker stock of 0.37Mt, NeizarGhom Cement has 0.2Mt of clinker, Hormozgan Cement has 0.39Mt, Naein Cement has 0.36Mt and Lamerd Cement has 0.19Mt of clinker.