Global Cement News

Turkmenistan: Cement imports to Turkmenistan will have to pay a 100% customs duty starting on 1 August 2013, according to the Turkmenistan.ru news portal. The resolution was signed by President Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov in order to support domestic production and to streamline the import of cement. A minimum customs import duty of US$200/t will be imposed.

It's been a cold and rainy 'summer' so far in 2013 in the UK. So much so that crowds at the Glastonbury Music Festival watching the Rolling Stones this weekend were lucky they didn't get drenched during 'Jumpin' Jack Flash.' However, cement producers around the world are increasingly tackling the opposite problem as they concentrate on water conservation measures.

As we see this week, the Cement Manufacturers' Association of the Philippines (CeMAP) has started advocating the use of rainwater for cement production. According to figures put out by CeMAP, an average dry-process cement plant uses 100-200L of water per tonne of clinker produced. The Philippines uses around 3.2BnL/yr of water for its cement production capacity of 21Mt/yr, which operated at an 85% capacity utilisation rate in 2012. A simple calculation reveals a water usage rate of 179L/t of cement produced in the Philippines. Though close to the top of CeMAP's dry-process water use range, it is actually less than some of the multinational cement producers (see below).

Water conservation among multinational cement producers has become increasingly high-profile in recent years. In January 2013 Cemex announced that it had developed a methodology to standardise water measurement and management across all of the company's operations. This followed a three year partnership between Cemex and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). In its 2012 Sustainability Report Cemex reported that 12% of its cement operations were in water-scarce or water-stressed locations. Its water consumption for cement was 305L/t. This compares to Holcim's water consumption for cement of 260L/t in 2012.

Other multinational cement producers have put into place similar measures. Lafarge started to assess its 'water risk' in 2011. It found that 25% of its cement production sites were located in areas of water scarcity or high water scarcity, based on 2025 projections of annual renewable water supplies per person. A follow-up with the WWF Water Risk Filter (WRF) continued the assessment, identifying 15 Lafarge cement sites as being located in 'high-risk' basins, with 10 particular sites identified in Pakistan, India, Algeria, Mexico, Jordan, China, South Africa, Iraq and Uganda.

It is worth noting here that most of these countries are currently growth areas for cement demand and so producers with plans to expand in these regions need to tread a careful line. Cement makers that use vast amounts of water in water-scarce regions will be less desirable neighbours for local populations than those that use less water. This, like consumer and regulatory pressures in developed markets, could turn into a major driving factor for improved environmental performance in developing regions. Investing in water conservation measures therefore appears to make sense socially, environmentally and (ultimately) economically.

Switzerland: Xavier Dedullen has been appointed Head of the newly-created Legal and Compliance function at international cement producer Holcim, as well as Group General Counsel. As Corporate Functional Manager, he became a member of Holcim Senior Management, effective 28 June 2013. He reports directly to the Group CEO. As Chief Legal and Compliance Officer and Group General Counsel, Xavier Dedullen assumes responsibility for all legal and compliance matters.

Chile: Cementos Bío Bío has appointed Iñaki Otegui as its new CEO, effective 1 August 2013. Otegui replaces Jorge Matus, who has resigned after 39 years with the company.

Mexico: Cemex has launched Cemex Global Solutions, a service that the company says 'leverages over a century of industry-leading expertise' to provide customers with the best value proposition in a full range of technical services for the cement, ready-mix concrete and aggregates industries.

Cemex Global Solutions is available around the world, with ongoing projects in several countries. By using the best practices and innovations from the company's Research and Development Centre in Switzerland and extracting value from its expertise as a top cement, ready-mix concrete and aggregates company, Cemex Global Solutions is expected to provide state-of-the-art technological support across the entire building materials manufacturing process, from plant design and conceptualisation to expanding capacity and upgrading equipment. This service reinforces Cemex's commitment to suiting its customers' needs by providing them with reliable and cost-efficient solutions.

"We have an unparalleled team of experts with experience throughout the building materials value chain strengthened by our cutting-edge research and development centre," said Hugo Bolio, Cemex Vice-President of Global Technology and Safety. "From feasibility studies to plant management and optimisation, we believe that by offering integrated solutions, we can provide our customers with more reliable and higher quality services."