Global Cement News

Guatemala: Colombia-based Cementos Argos has announced that it is “exploring opportunities for importing cement into Guatemala.” Subsidiary Argos Guatemala will be responsible for the import and commercialisation of the cement, which will be produced by Cementos Argos in Panama.

UK: Cemex has joined the Aldersgate Group alliance of companies in calling on the UK government to support an economic recovery, “aligned with the UK’s climate and environmental goal.” In a policy briefing, the Aldersgate Group said that a low-carbon recovery plan should: address regional inequality and unemployment; strengthen the UK’s economic competitiveness and productivity through investment in the sectors and technologies of the future; deliver critical public goods including clean air, better health and improved resilience to future environmental shocks; build a more resilient financial system fit to withstand future climate shocks ;deliver the Global Britain agenda by strengthening the UK government’s influence ahead of the G7 and COP26 summits that it will be hosting in 2021; and enable UK businesses to be competitive providers of low carbon goods and services.

Cemex Europe director of public affairs Martin Casey said, “Our aim is to enable the development of climate-smart urban projects, sustainable buildings and climate-resilient infrastructures. Setting a clear policy direction for restarting the economy will enable to play its part in the recovery in a way that advances our climate and environmental goals.”

Botswana: PPC Botswana has taken up a slogan of the Botswana government in encouraging Botswanans to “Buy Botswana” in order to reduce their import bills and utilise local suppliers post-coronavirus lockdown. The Sunday Standard newspaper has reported that, after the economy shrank by 13% since the start of the coronavirus lockdown, PPC announced that it would “continue engaging with more stakeholders on the road to economic recovery.” Regarding the possibility of layoffs in the company, PPC Botswana managing director Tuelo Bolthole said, “The situation is still very fluid, therefore it is difficult to tell whether it will reach that point. We however believe that our workforce is an important asset.” The company is currently producing cement at 100% of its capacity in anticipation of pent-up demand.

India: JSW Cement has said that it will delay a planned US$382m expansion of its installed capacity of 14Mt/yr to 25Mt/yr in 2023 until at least January 2021. The Business Standard newspaper has reported that JSW Cement previously postponed work to raise its capacity to 20Mt/yr in 2020, and that the economic situation following the coronavirus lockdown is “not conducive to the construction agenda.” JSW Cement chief executive officer (CEO) Nilesh Narwekar said, “The plans are being deferred by 6 – 12 months but we are not sure that they will happen.” Financing for the work was due to be split 50:50 between internal accruals and bank loans.

India: In the fourth quarter of the fiscal year ending 31 March 2020 Dalmia Bharat sold 5.17Mt of cement worth US$326m, down by 13% year-on-year from US$374m in the same period of the previous fiscal year. Net profit for the quarter was US$3.16m. The company said that the figure was “not comparable to the previous year’s fourth quarter profit of US$34.6 due to a change in reporting standards, according to the Press Trust of India. Full year net profit fell by 32% to US$31.3m from US$45.9m and revenues grew by 2% to US$1.27bn from US$1.25bn.