Global Cement News

Switzerland: Xavier Dedullen has been appointed Head of the newly-created Legal and Compliance function at international cement producer Holcim, as well as Group General Counsel. As Corporate Functional Manager, he became a member of Holcim Senior Management, effective 28 June 2013. He reports directly to the Group CEO. As Chief Legal and Compliance Officer and Group General Counsel, Xavier Dedullen assumes responsibility for all legal and compliance matters.

Chile: Cementos Bío Bío has appointed Iñaki Otegui as its new CEO, effective 1 August 2013. Otegui replaces Jorge Matus, who has resigned after 39 years with the company.

Mexico: Cemex has launched Cemex Global Solutions, a service that the company says 'leverages over a century of industry-leading expertise' to provide customers with the best value proposition in a full range of technical services for the cement, ready-mix concrete and aggregates industries.

Cemex Global Solutions is available around the world, with ongoing projects in several countries. By using the best practices and innovations from the company's Research and Development Centre in Switzerland and extracting value from its expertise as a top cement, ready-mix concrete and aggregates company, Cemex Global Solutions is expected to provide state-of-the-art technological support across the entire building materials manufacturing process, from plant design and conceptualisation to expanding capacity and upgrading equipment. This service reinforces Cemex's commitment to suiting its customers' needs by providing them with reliable and cost-efficient solutions.

"We have an unparalleled team of experts with experience throughout the building materials value chain strengthened by our cutting-edge research and development centre," said Hugo Bolio, Cemex Vice-President of Global Technology and Safety. "From feasibility studies to plant management and optimisation, we believe that by offering integrated solutions, we can provide our customers with more reliable and higher quality services."

Nepal: Amid cement manufacturers' claims that Nepal has become self-reliant in terms of cement production, cement imports have actually risen by 15.5% in the first 10 months of the country's current fiscal year, which runs until 15 July 2013.

In the review period, Nepal imported cement worth US$34.6m, against the imports worth US$30.0m in the same period a year earlier, according to the Trade and Export Promotion Centre statistics. Over the period, the country also saw seven new cement factories commissioned or announced.

According to Aatma Ram Murarka, former president of the Nepal Cement Manufacturers Association (NCMA), the imports went up because of the ongoing development projects with foreign investment. "In case of projects with foreign investment, the government has provided customs, tax and VAT waivers on cement imports from India," said Murarka.

Murarka said that domestic manufacturers have repeatedly demanded that the government roll back the provision because they say that local production can meet the market demand. "The government hasn't reviewed it seriously," he said, adding that projects being undertaken by Nepali contractors were, however, using domestic products.

China: The China Cement Association (CCA) has drafted a plan to promote mergers and acquisitions in the cement industry, according to an 'industry insider' quoted by Xinhua's China Economic Information Service. The plan is to help the cement industry to eliminate its out-dated production capacity and increase the concentration ratio of the industry.

According to the plan, the number of cement enterprises in the country will witness a significant drop during the 12th Five-Year Plan period (2011-2015) from that in seen in 2010, with no more than 1000 cement clinker enterprises and no more than 2000 large-scale cement grinding stations, each with annual output of more than 600,000t/yr, left by the end of 2015.

The plan also aims to develop five enterprise groups that each have annual output of more than 100Mt/yr and have a complete industry chain, core competence and international influence.