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The cost of climate change policies on cement production in the UK
Written by David Perilli, Global Cement
05 April 2017
Check out this great graph that the UK Mineral Products Association (MPA) released in its latest sustainable development report this week. It lays out where the MPA says the various direct and indirect costs come from climate change policies per tonne of cement.
Graph 1: The cumulative burden of direct and indirect cost of climate change policies on the cement sector (per tonne of cement). GBP£1 = Euro0.94 at time of writing. Source: MPA.
If it’s correct then the two biggest contributors from carbon taxes on the price of cement in the UK arise from the Carbon Price Support (CPS) mechanism and the Renewable Obligation (RO). Between them the two policies account for around two-thirds of the carbon tax burden on the price of cement. Of note to an industry advocacy body like the MPA, both of these derive from local legislation and they could be changed or dispensed with separate to the Brexit negotiations to extricate the UK from the European Union that have just officially started.
The MPA then goes on to warn that these added costs could rise from GBP£3.24/t at present to GBP£4/t in 2020 and then the truly terrifying (to energy intensive manufacturers at least) GBP£17/t. Subsequently the MPA has flagged these potentially mounting costs as the biggest threat to the UK cement industry in the near future. Failure to act could mean more foreign imports, loss of jobs and damage to the security of supply. All very heavy stuff. The MPA’s warning was nicely timed to precede the UK government’s response to a consultation on another decarbonisation scheme, the Contracts for Difference (CfD) scheme. Here, the government is about to exempt high-energy users, including cement producers.
Essentially, the key message from the MPA’s report is that the cement sector is picking up but it is still below sales levels in 2007. At the same time it has made all these environmental improvements and, now, steadily tightening regulations threaten its future. Just compare this with the situation in the US where the Portland Cement Association (PCA) recently applauded President Donald Trump’s executive order to roll back environmental legislation from the Obama administration. Despite this it insisted that its members were committed to manufacturing products with a ‘minimal’ environmental footprint.
Funnily enough the MPA didn’t mention environmental issues when it released its updated Brexit priorities for the UK government. This is understandable given the graph above that suggests that the majority of the carbon costs on cement production come from UK legislation. However, sharing a land border with the EU south of Northern Ireland may give rise to all sorts of market skulduggery once any sort of post-Brexit deal becomes clear. And this doesn’t even take into account moving secondary cementitious materials about, like slag, or the UK’s international market in solid recovered fuels (SRF) and the like. Differences in UK and EU overall carbon costs on cement may start to have acute implications for producers in both jurisdictions as the negotiations build. In this atmosphere moves like Ireland’s Quinn Cement’s last month, to build a terminal on the UK side of the Irish border, make a lot of sense.
India: The India Ratings and Research has blamed demonetisation and elections for a poor fourth quarter for cement producers in the 2017 Indian financial year. Cement production volumes fell by 15.8% year-on-year in February 2017 and by 5% on a month-on-month basis. India Ratings also attributed the decline to a strong equivalent quarter in the 2016 financial year.
It reported that volumes for the major cement producers contracted by 5% year-on-year in the third quarter. On a regional basis it fell by 3% and 6% for producers in central and northern regions. However, volumes rose sharply, by 21%, in the south. Growth in the southern region has been supported by increases in government spending in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
The agency also reported that changes announced by the Ministry of Railways, which requires long-term agreements and contracts for industries like cement, steel and fertilisers, could potentially drive demand for cement. The new policy will provide conditional discounts that could increase the transport of cement through the rail network and cement manufacturers will be able to control freight costs more effectively. However, the availability of wagons during peak periods might also constrain the policy.
Italy: Cementir is preparing to pay extra for its purchase of Belgian cement maker Compagnie des Ciments Belges (CCB) that took place in the autumn of 2016. In the draft financial statement it said that it would have to pay an estimated additional amount, according to Radiocor news agency. However, no specific amount has been declared. Cementir paid Euro337m to Germany’s HeidelbergCement for CCB in October 2016.
Rwanda: Prime Cement has signed a deal with Denmark’s FLSmidth to build a US$65m cement grinding plant in Musanze District, Northern Province. Gisele Bayigamba, the general manager of Milbridge Holding, a consortium that owns Prime Cement, said that construction of the unit will start in the third quarter of 2018, according to the New Times newspaper. The plant will have a cement production capacity of 0.7Mt/yr once operational. The project is also expected to create over 1500 jobs. A proposed second phase to the project will add an integrated clinker plant within the next five years.
FlSmidth added that the contract will become effective when FLSmidth receives a down payment from the customer, which is expected to happen later in 2017. The order includes a OK(TM) 27-4 vertical mill for cement grinding, filters, a control system and plant automation, a packing plant and weighing and metering systems. FLSmidth will also supply equipment from other FLSmidth brands, such as a planetary mill gear unit from FLSmidth MAAG Gear, filters from FLSmidth Airtech, a control system and plant automation from FLSmidth Automation, a packing plant from FLSmidth Ventomatic and weighing and metering systems from FLSmidth Pfister.
Adepeju Adebajo resigns from Lafarge Africa
Written by Global Cement staff
05 April 2017
Nigeria: Adepeju Adebajo has resigned as an executive director of Lafarge Africa. Adebajo was the Managing Director, Wapco Operations and then Managing Director, Geo-Cycle and Project Management Office at Lafarge Africa. Her resignation from Lafarge follows her appointment as the Honourable Commissioner for Agriculture in Ogun State.