Global Cement News

The Pacific Cement Corporation (PACEMCO) held a groundbreaking ceremony this week officially ‘reopening’ its cement plant in Surigao City. The revival of the plant has been supported by investments by San Miguel Corporation (SMC). Various dignitaries attended the event including John Paul Ang, the chief operating officer of SMC, the mayor of Surigao City mayor and the governor of Surigao del Norte.

The plant has been closed since 2014 due to financial problems. At the time, Global Cement reported that the cement plant stopped operations in May 2014 after the Surigao del Norte Electric Cooperative cut its power supply for unsettled debts worth at least US$0.5m. PACEMCO was originally set up in 1967 and the plant had a production capacity of 0.22Mt/yr via one production line in 2014.

Earlier in March 2025 the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) was keen to highlight the efforts that Taiheiyo Cement Philippines (TCP) is making towards supporting the country's infrastructure capacity. Company executives met with the DTI and revealed plans including building a distribution terminal in Calaca, Batangas with the aim of targeting the Luzon market. This follows the construction of a new US$220m production line at TCP’s San Fernando plant in Cebu in July 2024.

Both announcements follow the implementation in late February 2025 of a provisional tariff on cement imports. The DTI started investigating imports in the autumn of 2024 and later decided to initiate a ‘preliminary safeguard measure’ following the discovery of a “causal link between the increased imports of the products under consideration and serious injury to the domestic industry.” The tariff takes the form of a cash bond of US$6.95/t or US$0.28/40kg bag of cement. It will be in place for 200 days, to mid-September 2025, while the Philippine Tariff Commission conducts a final investigation. The two main countries that will be affected are Vietnam and Japan. A large number of countries are exempt from the tariff including, notably, China and Indonesia. Both of these two countries were larger sources of imports to the Philippines during the five-year period the DTI is investigating. However, imports from these places have declined since 2021 and 2023 respectively.

Graph 1: Import of cement to the Philippines, 2019 - 2024. Source: Department of Trade and Industry.

A preliminary report by the DTI published in late February 2025 outlines the reasons for the provisional tariff. In summary it found that imports rose from 2019 and 2024 and the share of imports increased also pushing down the domestic share of sales. In the view of the report, the domestic cement sector experienced declining sales, production, capacity utilisation, profitability and employment for each year apart from 2021. One point to note is that the imports were split roughly 50:50 between local and foreign companies. Local company Philcement, for example, was the largest importer for cement to the Philippines from 2019 to 2024. In its statement to the DTI it said that it had invested in manufacturing the processing sites in the country. It argued that overprotection of the market discouraged competition and might not be aligned with the economic goals of the country.

Last time Global Cement Weekly covered the Philippines (GCW669) in July 2024 it looked likely that the government would take further action on imports. This has now happened on a temporary basis but it looks likely that it will become permanent. Recent investment announcements from local producers such as PACEMCO and TCP may be coincidental but they suggest a tentative confidence in the local sector.

Switzerland/US: Holcim has appointed the designated executive leadership team for its planned Amrize spin-off company in the US. Jan Jenisch will be the new company’s chair and CEO and Ian Johnston will be the Chief Financial Officer (CFO).

Other roles include: Jaime Hill as President of Building Materials; Jake Gosa as President of Building Envelope; Nollaig Forrest as Chief Marketing and Corporate Affairs Officer; Steve Clark as Chief People Officer; Denise Singleton as Chief Legal Officer & Corporate Secretary; Sam Poletti, Chief Strategy and M&A Officer; Mario Gross as Chief Supply Chain Officer; and Roald Brouwer as Chief Technology Officer.

Jenisch has been a member of the board of directors of Holcim since 2021 and has worked as its chair since 2023 and as its CEO from 2017 to 2024. Before joining Holcim, Jenisch was the CEO of Sika from 2012 to 2017.
Johnston currently serves as CFO for Holcim North America. Prior to this he held the same role for the business in the US and Canada.

Jenisch said “Our leadership team includes key Holcim leaders who have played instrumental roles in the success of our business, as well as new leaders from top US companies with strong North American market expertise.”

Nigeria: Dangote Cement has appointed Gbenga Fapohunda as its Group Financial Officer.

Fapohunda holds over 22 years of experience in financial management. He has worked for Dangote Cement since 2021 first as Regional Chief Financial Officer and then as the Acting Group Financial Officer from 2022. Before this he was the Executive Finance Director (West Africa) at Japan Tobacco International, Finance Director at United Parcel Service (UPS), Executive Finance Director at British American Tobacco. Earlier in his career, he was a manager within the financial advisory team at PricewaterhouseCoopers and worked at KPMG Professional Services within the Assurance Team. He holds a Doctor of Business Administration (Strategic Management) from the Rome Business School, a master’s of business administration (MBA) in finance from the London Business School and an undergraduate degree in accounting from the University of Lagos. He is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria.

UK: Mark Grimshaw-Smith has been appointed as a non-executive director to its Board of Logistics UK. He currently works as the Rail and Sea Manager for Cemex UK. Other appointments to this board include Jamie Hartles, Rem Noormohamed and James Wroath.

Grimshaw-Smith has worked for over 40 years in the construction materials supply chain and logistics sector, covering all modes of transport. He has worked for Cemex for over 15 years, most recently as its Rail and Sea Manager. He helped to develop Cemex's global rail safety standards, representing Cemex’s Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region. He is a graduate in economics from the University of Oxford and holds a master’s of business administration (MBA) from the University of Warwick.

Logistics UK is a trade association representing the logistics sector, including road, rail, sea, and air.

Gabon: The Gabonese government and Ciments d'Afrique (Cimaf Gabon) have signed an investment agreement for the construction of a third cement production line. The US$41.1m project will increase Cimaf Gabon's cement production capacity by 1Mt/yr to 1.85Mt/yr.

Cimaf Gabon also holds a permit to exploit a major limestone deposit around Ntoum and will build a clinker production unit in the area, requiring more than US$148m in investment.

Cimaf Gabon’s general director Janah Idrissi El Mehdi said “This plant, located a stone's throw from Ntoum in the Estuaire province, will bring significant benefits to the entire region, particularly in terms of job creation (1400 in the project phase and 500 in the operational phase). It will contribute to improving the living conditions of the surrounding populations.”