Global Cement News

US: Ash Grove Cement Company has reportedly filed a permit amendment with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) seeking to close two of its three cement kilns in Midlothian, Texas. A local environmental pressure group, Downwinders at Risk, reported that it would convert the third kiln to dry production.

Ash Grove said that it was 'premature' to talk about the permit because the decision was not final. Downwinders' director Jim Schermbeck said that he expects the state agency to approve the change."They're going to reduce emissions. TCEQ will let them do that," Schermbeck said.

US cement kiln operators face a 2013 deadline to meet new emission standards from the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The proposed changes would take production down by 20% at the site to around 0.95Mt/yr.

Switzerland: Holcim has reported Euro363m loss for its fourth quarter of 2011 after being hit by a Euro643m impairment charge on its assets in South Africa and Europe. It said that it expects organic growth in operating earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) in 2012. For 2011 as a whole, Holcim reported higher sales volumes for cement, aggregates and ready-mix concrete, although its consolidated net sales decreased by 4.2% (7.5% increase like-for-like). Its operating EBITDA decreased by 12.3% (down 0.2% like-for-like). Its net income fell to Euro565m.

Holcim said that it expects demand for building material to rise in emerging markets in Latin America and Asia, as well as in Russia and Azerbaijan in 2012. It also expects a slight improvement for North America. In Europe, Hocim believes that demand will remain stable, provided that the situation is not undermined by further systemic shocks in the Eurozone. "Holcim expects that the group will achieve organic growth in terms of operating EBITDA," the company said in its quarterly report.

Mexico: Cemex Chairman and Chief Executive Lorenzo Zambrano has slammed Mexico's antitrust commission and reiterated that the company intends to appeal a fine for allegedly blocking competitors from bringing cement into Mexico. Earlier in February 2012, the Federal Competition Commission (CFC), fined Cemex US$800,000 following an investigation into a failed attempt by a competitor to import cement via a silo ship in 2004.

"We've done nothing illegal," Zambrano said, adding that Cemex used legal measures to combat, "what I personally consider was going to be contraband." Zambrano charged the CFC with having an 'attitude of vengeance,' that he said Cemex had suffered for some time. "They didn't prove anything but imposed the fine. We're going to appeal and we're going to win," he added.

The antitrust investigation followed a complaint by a group that was blocked from importing cement in Mexico from Russia in 2004. Comercio para el Desarrollo Mexicano (CDM), formed by local entrepreneurs and several foreign partners, was kept from unloading the shipment. The CFC voted 4-1 to fine Cemex for what it said was a boycott. The CFC said that it had determined that Cemex has substantial power in the wholesale market for cement, and that it systematically carried out actions to keep out imported cement, including using its influence in the cement industry chamber.

Zambrano said Cemex's share of the domestic market is below 50%, when in earlier years, after a series of acquisitions, it had been as high as 68%. "Nothing's been said about the millions of tons of cement capacity that have been installed in Mexico by our competitors," he added.

Kenya: Profits at Bamburi Cement rose by 12% in 2011 backed by stronger revenues from the domestic market and its newly-expanded Ugandan subsidiary. The company earned a pre-tax profit of US$102m in 2011 compared to US$91m in 2010. The group's turnover increased by 28% to US$433m in 2011 from US$338m in 2010. Given pricing pressure in Kenya, Bamburi's main market, the better than expected revenue growth was mainly supported by increased volume sales from the company's Ugandan subsidiary, which was expanded in the last quarter of 2010.

"2011 was characterised by stable domestic prices and better export prices, due to the appreciation of the US dollar,"said Hussein Mansi, Bamburi's managing director. However, the company, like many others worldwide, suffered from a jump in power costs. For this reason, the company is still cautious regarding the local and global macroeconomic environment for 2012. "The uncertain political environment in Kenya continues to make visibility difficult," said Mansi.

China: The Chinese Ministry of Information and Technology has announced that China's cement industry will source 65% of its electricity needs from waste materials by 2015, as part of the country's wide-ranging 12th Five-Year Plan period (2011-2015). It said that this would help China's building materials industry to see its energy consumption per unit of industrial value-added output reduced by 20% by 2015 compared to 2010.