Global Cement News

Germany: The Dyckerhoff Group has announced preliminary key figures for 2011, which show a 13% improvement in sales compared to 2010. Sales hit Euro1.6bn in 2011, up from Euro1.41bn in 2010. Breaking down its sales performance geographically, the group took Euro829m in Germany and western Europe (+14% year-on-year), Euro598m in eastern Europe (+21%) and Euro175m in the United States (-9%).

The company reported that sales volumes increased in all countries, except cement in the USA and sand and gravel in the Netherlands. Cement prices exceeded those of 2010 in Poland, Ukraine and Russia, falling in each of the other countries in which the group operates. The proportion of sales generated outside of Germany fell by 1%.

Looking forward to its full 2011 results, Dyckerhoff's management board expects a slight improvement in performance for 2011 compared to 2010. For the 2012 fiscal year, the company expects its sales and results to remain stable compared to 2011.

Romania: The Romanian unit of Lafarge has appointed Sonia Artinian as its new country CEO. She is in charge of the French group's cement, aggregates and concrete business in Romania. Artinian replaces Philippe Questiaux, who had managed Lafarge's cement activity in Romania since 2002.

Russia: Vladimir Petrov has been appointed as General Director of Pikalevskiy Cement, a part of Russia's Eurocement Group.

Ukraine: The Balakleya-based Eurocement-Ukraine company dismissed its director general Demis Halchev on 31 January 2011 after a tenure of around three years in the post. According to a report, the position is now vacant.

UK: A report by Markit/CIPS has shown that the UK construction industry as a whole experienced a slow down in January 2012. Jason Heath, a construction specialist at Bibby Financial Services said, "The latest Markit/CIPS survey highlighted that the construction sector slowed down in January 2012. Although the numbers indicate a fall in productivity, the survey also revealed that construction managers and owners are feeling optimistic for the first time in eight months."

"This optimism is perhaps down to construction firms having a particularly successful December 2011, potentially due to milder weather conditions and infrastructure projects commencing, which surprised economists who had predicted a decline towards the end of 2011," he continued. "In order to retain this positive outlook, the government needs to make funding the construction industry a priority by making it more accessible to firms so this sector can continue to provide a vital contribution to the UK economy," concluded Heath.

Saudi Arabia: More than 70 people are to be investigated in connection with the current cement crisis in Jeddah, which has seen cement become expensive and scarce since the start of 2012. Trucks owned by the accused were captured while selling cement at inflated black market prices in various parts of the city.

A special committee, formed by Jeddah Govenor Prince Mishaal bin Majed, raided about 15 warehouses where cement was being sold by foreign dealers. It is claimed that the dealers had signed agreements with contractors that were executing a number of government projects to sell them cement at high prices. "This has created an acute shortage in the quantities of cement available in the market," he added.

Prior to the commencement of the investigation, local press had reported angry crowds at points of sale and said that security forces had to intervene in some instances. Market sources believe the crisis was created by the inability of the factories to work at full capacity because they were not given enough fuel.

Abdullah Al-Ammar, a contractor, did not see any justification for the shortage. "This is an artificial crisis created by some traders who want to monopolise the cement market and stack it away in their stores, only selling it when the price goes up," he said. Al-Ammar asked the Commerce Ministry to impose harsher punitive measures against traders who were caught selling cement on the black market or hiding it. He hoped that the problem would be alleviated when two new cement factories are commissioned later in 2012.

France: Lafarge has begun a consultation procedure regarding the proposed reorganisation of its corporate functions and shared resources in France. This follows from its 21 November 2011 announcement that it was planning a restructuring along geographical lines rather than its product types. Lafarge has now said that the proposed changes would result in 460 job losses, 90 of which would be in France. It said that voluntary redundancy plans would help it to avoid compulsory job losses.

Lafarge has said that the reorganisation will be structured around an Executive Committee consisting of a 'Performance' function, chiefly responsible for the technical centers and engineering, IT systems and the leadership of commercial and industrial performance; an 'Innovation' function, chiefly responsible for research and development, marketing and transformation; three Executive Vice Presidents, whose mission will be supervising 42 operating entities and support functions.

The group says that the shift in its centre of gravity towards countries would lead to a decentralisation ofcorporate functions. As a result, the outline of the new organisation that is being announced today entails a reduction in staff numbers. Lafarge says that the new group organisation will enable it to be more focused on the needs of its markets and its customers and will enable it to accelerate the development of the group through organic growth and innovation.