Global Cement News

Russia: André Martin has been appointed as Chief Executive Officer of Lafarge Russia effective from 16 September 2013. He had been the Senior VP, Industrial Customer Segment at Lafarge corporate head office in Paris since 2012. Martin replaces Alex de Valukhoff.

A graduate of French management school ESSEC, Martin joined Lafarge in 1995 as cement M&A in Central and Eastern Europe manager. Highlights in his career include becoming president of Lafarge-Agregate-Betoane in Romania in 1999 and joining Lafarge-Beton de Paris as President in 2002. In 2005 André Martin moved to North America as VP Marketing Aggregates and Asphalt & Paving at Lafarge and he became President at Lafarge East US Aggregates & Asphalt in 2008.

Ireland: Ecocem has accused the Irish cement industry of failing to align its CO₂ emissions with the European Union carbon 2050 roadmap. The producer of GGBS (Ground Granulated Blastfurnace Slag) cement made the comments in a document detailing its response to the Irish government's Climate Action and Low-Carbon Development Bill 2013. The EU carbon roadmap suggests cutting emissions in Europe by 80% below 1990 levels by 2050.

In its document Ecocem also attacked the European Union's Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), saying that it provided strong incentives against promoting decarbonisation of the cement sector. It added that a transition to a low-carbon cement and concrete industry could create up to 1200 new jobs within five years.

Ecocem says its product has a carbon footprint of 19kg of CO₂ per tonne of cement, compared with about 750 kg of CO₂ per tonne it says is produced by the traditional Irish cement sector.

Turkey: Batisoke Soke Cimento Sanayii has secured a Euro10m loan from local lender Akbank. The 7.5-year loan will be provided from Akbank under the EURO Turkey Mid-size Sustainable Energy Financing Facility of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Batisoke said in a filing with Borsa Istanbul.

With the facility, the EBRD aims to support Turkish private-sector borrowers to implement mid-size renewable energy, waste-to-energy and industrial energy efficiency investments via providing loans to seven Turkish banks for on-lending to private sector borrowers.

US: Registration has opened for the 2014 IEEE-IAS/PCA Cement Industry Technical Conference to be held in Washington, DC from 13 - 17 April 2014. The conference theme will be 'Two Great Ideas".

For the 2014 conference the organisers have introduced training for industry 'junior' professionals. The conference will also feature a tour of the Martinsburg Cement Plant owned by Essroc.

UK: The UK Competition Commission (CC) has provisionally decided that Lafarge Tarmac should sell a cement plant to increase competition in the UK cement market. The CC is also proposing to limit the flow of information and data between cement producers and to increase competition in the supply chain for ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS).

"The best way to disturb the balance of a market where producers have focused on retaining their respective market shares rather than competing is to create the opportunity for a major new entrant," said CC Deputy Chairman and Chairman of the Inquiry Group Professor Martin Cave.

In detail the CC has provisionally decided that Lafarge Tarmac should be required to choose between divesting either its Cauldon or Tunstead cement plant. The purchaser of the divested cement plant should be able to acquire a limited number of ready mixed concrete plants from Lafarge Tarmac subject to the purchaser's total internal cementitious requirement being capped at 15% of the acquired cement production capacity. The buyer would have to be approved by the CC and not be one of UK's existing cement producers.

Data currently published by the Minerals Products Association (MPA) and the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills should be delayed by no less than three months from the time period to which it refers before it can be made public. UK cement producers will also be prohibited (with a small number of specific exceptions) from providing their sales and production data to any other private sector organisation.

UK cement suppliers will be prohibited from sending generic price announcement letters to their customers. Instead, they should send letters that are specific and relevant to the customers receiving them.

Subject to further consultation on the GGBS supply chain, Hanson should divest two of its GGBS production facilities and Lafarge Tarmac should divest two of its granulated furnace slag production facilities, again to a suitable purchaser approved by the CC but not to another UK cement producer.

Responses to the CC's suggested measures will now be gathered before it publishes its final report by 17 January 2014.