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Jacques Bourgon resigns from Holcim
Written by Global Cement staff
10 December 2014
Switzerland: Holcim Group has announced that Jacques Bourgon, its current head of occupational health and safety, senior advisor to the CEO and senior manager has decided to resign from the group to pursue challenges outside Holcim. He will leave on 31 December 2014. Holcim thanked Jacques Bourgon for his valuable contributions over his 24 years at the company.
American focus shifts back north
Written by Peter Edwards
10 December 2014
This week we heard news of two potential bidders for Lafarge and Holcim divestments. However, for a change it was where they will not be bidding that was of interest: Brazil. India's UltraTech Cement and Colombia's Cementos Argos now seem to have no interest in developing their positions in South America's largest cement market, having both previously stated their interest.
The Brazilian assets to be sold are three integrated cement plants and two grinding plants that share a capacity of 3.6Mt/yr (as well as a one ready-mix plant). Cementos Argos came out and said that it would not be bidding. UltraTech's position is more of a rumour, given by 'a source close to the company' that was not revealed by local media. However, both stories suggest that Brazil is currently not a good place for cement producers to buy up assets.
The reasons for these decisions are related to the state of the Brazilian economy, which has seen sub 2% growth in the last 11 quarters. The economy actually contracted by 0.9% in the second quarter of 2014 and by 0.25% in the third quarter of 2014. A 0.2% rise in the fourth quarter will be negated by a fall of 0.28% in the first quarter of 2015. Over the course of 2015 the IMF forecasts growth of 1.4%.
Although Brazilian cement production has risen from around 40Mt/yr in 2006 to around 70Mt/yr in 2013, it has been growing by lower and lower amounts each year. In 2013, it rose by 1.5% year-on-year, down from a 6.7% rise in 2012, an 8.3% rise in 2011 and a near 16% rise in 2010. Taken along with the IMF's GDP growth forecast, there is a genuine chance that Brazilian cement sales could plateau in 2014 or 2015. There will certainly be better places to try to sell cement over the next couple of years, hence the eagerness with which Cementos Argos declared its position.
One country that Cementos Argos has said it's looking at Lafarge and Holcim assets in is Mexico. Its economy is anticipated to grow by 3.5% in 2015, more than twice as quickly as Brazil and far more than the Americas as a whole (2.2%). Another anticipated strong performer in 2015 will be the US (3.1%), where Cementos Argos acquired assets in 2013. This week also saw the news that the Portland Cement Association's 8.1% cement consumption forecast for 2014 will be met.
Taking this all together, it appears that economic growth, and hence cement demand growth, will return to North America in earnest in 2015. Meanwhile South America's largest market is starting to lag behind. How will the rest of the two continents fare in 2015 and beyond?
Arghakhanchi Cement to launch in December 2014 09 December 2014
Nepal: Arghakhanchi Cement, based in Bhairahawa, is set to begin commercial production from 13 December 2014. The plant has a total capacity of 1200t/day of clinker and will employ 600 locals.
Siddhartha Group, Murarka Group and Kediya Group hold large stakes in the cement factory, with a minority stake held by a foreign investor. Rajesh Agrawal, director of Arghakhachi cement, said, "Targeting large-scale construction projects, we will produce OPC."
It has been reported that the plant will operate at 90% capacity utilisation, made possible by the installation of a captive high capacity diesel plant.
Arghakhanchi cement has set up three mines for limestone in Narapani and Khanchikot, both in Arghakhanchi district and Jonchha, Palpa district. According to Murarka, the plant was readied for operation five months ago and is only awaiting Nepal Standards accreditation from the Nepal Bureau of Standards and Metrology before operation can begin.
With cement plants rapidly coming online, Nepalese media reports that the country is steadily becoming self-reliant in terms of cement supply. The total consumption in 2013 was 4Mt but this is expected to rise along with large-scale infrastructure developments in the coming years.
UK/Portugal: N+P Group, a Netherlands-based waste processing firm, has landed a contract to supply 0.7Mt of solid recovered fuel (SRF) from UK recycling companies to cement plants operated by the Portuguese companies Secil and Cimpor. This follows N+P's first shipment of SRF from Grimsby, Lincolnshire to Portugal earlier in 2014. A 'minor part' of the contract will be satisfied by using waste from France and Italy.
Chairman Karel Jennissen said, "In recent years we have invested millions in developing the UK market to provide end users of our SRF sustainable supply concept. We put a lot of effort towards optimising quality levels of SRF in the UK market and have invested in the development of sustainable logistics chains. Now N+P has several port sites at strategic locations and the possibility to use a large number of sea containers."
Cemex to grow at home with Tepeaca expansion 09 December 2014
Mexico: Multinational cement giant Cemex has announced that it will invest US$200m in an expansion project at its Tepeaca plant in Puebla. The expansion will allow the company to increase its Mexican capacity by 16.7% up to 30Mt/yr. Cemex is confident national cement demand will go up thanks to projects seen in the Plan Nacional de Infraestructura (PIN), energy reform and civil construction.