Global Cement News

Brazil: Votorantim Cimentos’ net revenue grew by 22% year-on-year to US$954m in the first quarter of 2022 from US$781m in the same period in 2021. Its cement sales volumes rose by 5% to 8Mt from 7.6Mt. However, its adjusted earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell by 57% to US$81.4m from US$189m. The group attributed its increased sales to ‘favourable price dynamics’ in Brazil, North America, Europe, Asia and Africa. However, its earnings suffered from inflation, mounting commodity and energy prices and a strong comparison base in the same period in 2021.

"The war in Europe, sanctions imposed on Russia, new lockdowns in China and bottlenecks in logistics chains continue to impact the global economy. In addition, rising interest rates and cost inflation have affected companies and markets as a whole. Faced with this challenging environment, we remained aligned with our strategy and attentive to costs, our operational excellence and our business plan in all regions," said Marcelo Castelli, Global chief executive officer of Votorantim Cimentos.

Italy: Buzzi Unicem’s net sales grew by 17.2% year-on-year to Euro800m in the first quarter of 2022 from Euro682m in the same period in 2021. Its cement and ready-mixed concrete sales volumes rose by 2.9% to 6.36Mt and 6% to 2.69Mm³ respectively. The group reported growing sales volumes in Central Europe, Poland, the Czech Republic and the US but it noted a slowdown in Italy. Sales volumes were also disrupted in Ukraine and Russia due to the ongoing war between the countries. The group added that its prices were ‘markedly’ up in all markets where it operates to offset rising prices of raw materials and energy.

The company said that in Ukraine it was forced to suspend nearly all of the production and commercial activities at both of its plants when Russia invaded the country. In Russia it said that retaliatory economic sanctions led by the US and European Union had led to a “significant revision of the country's growth prospects.” Local sales volumes significantly slowed down in March 2022 after hostilities started but local operations still managed to report some growth in sales even in spite negative currency exchange effects. Buzzi Unicem said that, “Due to the sanctions imposed on Russia by the European institutions, we decided to immediately withdraw from any operational involvement in the activities carried out by the subsidiary OOO SLK Cement in Russia. Consequently, further strategic initiatives in the country will be suspended.”

Japan: Sumitomo Osaka Cement’s sales fell by 23% year-on-year to US$1.43bn in the financial year to the end of March 2022 from, US$1.85bn in same period in 2021. Its domestic sales volumes of cement grew slightly to 8.34Mt but exports sales volumes rose by 8.4% to 1.54Mt. Its operating income dropped by 59% to US$53.3m from US$129m. The company blamed its falling profits on rising input costs including energy prices such as a coal and oil.

Tanzania: Burundi-based Intracom is planning to build a US$250m integrated cement plant in Kigoma Region. The project is intended to supply cement to the Lake Tanganyika region including Burundi, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), according to the Daily News newspaper. Intracom Country Representative Rubenga Samson said that the company has obtained land in the region and construction is set to start soon. The project is reportedly using a loan from CRDB Bank to finance the project. The plant will have a cement and clinker production capacity of 0.6Mt/yr and 1Mt/yr respectively. Commissioning is scheduled for mid-2024. Intracom has also invested in a fertiliser project in Dodoma.

India: Chettinad Cement has ordered a MVR 5600 R-6 type mill for raw meal grinding and a MVR 5300 C-6 type mill for grinding composite cements from Germany-based Gebr. Pfeiffer for a new production line at its integrated Kallur plant in Karnataka. The supplier says that the MVR 5600 R-6 type mill is the first of its kind provided with six rollers. The order was placed in April 2022 and the contract has since been activated with the receipt of down-payment and a letter of credit.

The core components of the MVR mills as well as the 5810 kW gearbox will be supplied by Gebr. Pfeiffer SE from Europe. Foundation parts, housings and other components will be manufactured in India and delivered to the customer under responsibility of its subsidiary Gebr. Pfeiffer (India). The office of Gebr. Pfeiffer (India) in Noida, near New Delhi, will also support the end customer in plant design, procure most of the grinding plant machinery such as filters, fans, hot gas generators, the fly ash handling and conveying aggregates, and will be on site with personnel for quality control of the customer's site fabrication as well as supervision of erection and commissioning.