Global Cement News

Zambia: Zambezi Portland Cement is facing fresh legal proceedings over its ownership. The Lusaka Times newspaper reports that proceedings at the Court of Appeal are ongoing against businessman Phesto Musonda. Musonda, a former director of the company, allegedly attempted to take control of part of the company’s plant in September 2021. Unrest has also been reported at the cement producer’s plant with youths throwing stones at workers.

The current owners of Zambezi Portland Cement, the Ventriglia family, previously won a 10-year battle of control of the company against businessman Rajan Mahtani. In 2018 the High Court of Zambia awarded the family full ownership of the business.

Germany: Holcim Germany has published environmental reports for 2020 focused on each of its cement plants. The subsidiary of Switzerland-based Holcim has decided to target its reports on local issues by issuing separate reports for each of its four integrated plants in the country, at Beckum, Höver, Lägerdorf and Dotternhausen respectively. Each report covers national developments for the sector and the company. Local data is then included as well as data on connected cement grinding and concrete plants. The reports can be downloaded from Holcim Germany’s website.

Malawi/Zambia: Huaxin Cement says it has completed its acquisition of Lafarge Zambia and Lafarge Cement Malawi. In late December 2021 the Chinese cement producer completed the equity delivery conditions for Lafarge Cement Malawi. This follows a similar process for Lafarge Zambia in late November 2021.

In June 2021 Huaxin Cement said it had agreed to spend US$150m on purchasing a 75% stake in Lafarge Zambia and US$10m on acquiring Pan African Cement from Lafarge Cement Malawi. The former operates two integrated cement plants in Zambia with a combined production capacity of 1.5Mt/yr. The latter operates a 0.25Mt/yr grinding plant at Blantyre in Malawi. Following the completion of the takeover Huaxin Cement now intends to increase its cement grinding capacity in Malawi by 0.25Mt/yr.

Georgia: Cement imports rose by 16% year-on-year to 0.78Mt in the first eleven months of 2021 from 0.68Mt in the same period in 2020. Data from the National Statistics Office of Georgia and the Trend News Agency show that the value of these imports increased to US$40.2m from US$34.6m. Azerbaijan was the leading cement exporting nation to Georgia with a 75% share followed by Turkey with most of the rest. Russia, Greece and Germany have also exported cement to Georgia so far in 2021.

Colombia: Cementos Argos has invested around US$42m on a new terminal in the free trade zone of Cartagena. It is expanding its port infrastructure and tripling the import-export capacity of the site to 3.5Mt/yr. The new terminal, which adds to Argos' existing port facility, from which it exports cement and clinker to the US and other destinations in the Caribbean and Central America, will begin operations in the first quarter of 2022. An official ceremony marking the opening of the terminal will be held in January 2022.

"This new terminal will allow us to substantially increase cement exports to the US, taking advantage of the growing demand for construction materials in that country," said Juan Esteban Calle, the chief executive officer of Cementos Argos.