Displaying items by tag: HeidelbergCement
Anonymous source tips off Spanish authorities about cave found at FYM quarry in Malaga
18 August 2021Spain: An anonymous source informed the Regional Government of Andalusia about the discovery of a cave with interesting geological features at a quarry run by FYM near its Malaga integrated cement plant. Photographs of the cave subsequently circulated on social media raising local awareness, according to El Español. The local government has commissioned a study to assess whether the site has any archaeological interest that might protect it however the condition of the site is reportedly poor. FYM, a subsidiary of Germany-based HeidelbergCement, has confirmed that activity in that part of the quarry has been ‘paralysed’ while it waits for the study to be completed.
FCT Combustion supplies Turbu-Flex burner to HeidelbergCement’s Burglengenfeld cement plant
10 August 2021Germany: Australia-based FCT Combustion has delivered a Turbu-Flex burner to HeidelbergCement’s Burglengenfeld, Bavaria, cement plant. The joint aims of the project are to improve combustion control and to increase the alternative fuel (AF) substitution rate in the plant’s kiln lines. The equipment is scheduled for commissioning in early 2022.
Half-year cement producers update
04 August 2021The story so far for the first half of 2021 has been one of recovery following the coronavirus-related lockdowns in the same period in 2020. Market restrictions ended, production curbs were rescinded and revenue and sales volumes grew.
Many of the larger multinational cement producers have released their financial results and sales revenues show a gap-tooth pattern for the first halves of 2019, 2020 and 2021. Sales for LafargeHolcim, HeidelbergCement and Cemex all took a knock of around 10% from 2019 to 2020. Generally, sales have increased from 2019 to 2021 for the more regional-based companies such as Cemex or Buzzi Unicem. The larger multinational producers like Holcim and HeidelbergCement bounced back from the dip in 2020 but comparisons with the first half of 2019 are less favourable. Like-for-like comparisons between 2019 and 2021 are not available but both companies have been refocusing their portfolios in recent years making it hard to gain a sense of exactly what’s going on. These trends are still ongoing with more speculation in the press this week about which companies are bidding for LafargeHolcim Brasil for example. However, both Holcim and HeidelbergCement did report record earnings or operating incomes in the first half of 2021 suggesting that all the cost cutting in 2020 has paid off. The general market picture was continuing demand in North America, recovery in Europe and Latin America, growth in Africa and the Middle East and growth in Asia despite renewed coronavirus-related uncertainty.
Figure 1: Sales of selected major multinational cement producers in first half of 2021. Source: Company financial reports.
Figure 2: Cement sales volumes of selected major multinational cement producers in first half of 2021. Source: Company financial reports.
Cemex and Buzzi Unicem benefitted from their strong market presences in the Americas and Europe. Cemex was also helped by a particular recovery in Mexico and Latin America. The latter region benefited from the relaxation of strong lockdown measures in many countries implemented in the first half of 2020. Cemex’s investors update event at the end of June 2021 summed up its situation with earnings growth and leverage levels about to hit desired targets, selective investments and divestments on the way, new production capacity round the corner and sustainability goals turning up earlier than expected.
In Africa, Dangote Cement witnessed a switch from growth outside of Nigeria to a spurt of domestic demand for cement from mid-2020 onwards. This temporarily caused the company problems earlier in 2021 when it was forced to suspend its newly started export operations to Cameroon from its Onne and Apapa terminals. The reactivation of its previously mothballed 4.5Mt/yr Gboko plant in Benue State and an upcoming 3Mt/yr plant at Okpella in Edo state seem to have soothed the demand rush for now. Clinker exports have been resumed.
India meanwhile faced a second wave of its coronavirus epidemic in the spring of 2021. UltraTech Cement acknowledged this in its latest financial results, for the quarter to 30 June 2021. It reported that this had ‘marginally’ impacted cement demand but that the company was still monitoring the impact of the health situation upon its operations. Despite this, revenue and sales volumes of cement still grew significantly year-on-year in both the quarter and the first half of 2021. UltraTech Cement’s wariness about the health situation chimed with recent comments by Roongrote Rangsiyopash, the head of Siam Cement Group (SCG), who told local press in Thailand that current coronavirus restrictions in the country had reduced cement demand by 20%.
Finally, Semen Indonesia reported growing revenue, sales volumes of cement and earnings in the first half of 2021. Its financial results had little to say about the local coronavirus situation other than that it had reduced domestic demand growth and worsened production overcapacity. National cement production reached 115Mt in 2020 but local demand was only 62.7Mt. Unsurprisingly, exports reached their highest level ever, at 9.3Mt, in 2020.
As ever this is a very selective view of cement producer financial results. Larger multinationals like CRH or Votorantim are yet to release their results and likewise for the big Chinese producers. Recovery and growth seems to be the likely outcome for most of them though. However, the effects of recent coronavirus outbreaks in Asia have shown up in some of the results covered above. This suggests that the second half of 2021 for building materials manufacturers may be characterised by which countries are better able to suppress coronavirus either through mass vaccination or other public health measures. Buzzi Unicem summed it up it in its half year results: “The rapid progress of vaccination campaigns was matched by a clear recovery in economic activity.”
Ghana: Ghacem plans to spend US$100m on building a new cement plant at Kumasi in the Ashanti Region. The new 1.5Mt/yr unit at Kumasi is intended to serve central and northern regions of the country, according to the Daily Graphic newspaper. The plant will use calcined clay as an additive. Construction is expected to take 18 months with commissioning planned for the first quarter of 2023.
The subsidiary of Germany-based HeidelbergCement is also planning upgrades to its grinding plants at Tema and Takoradi. The work at the Tema will include the addition of a new grinding and packing plant and an upgrade of existing equipment. It is expected to be completed by the end of 2021. Work at Takoradi will then follow afterwards.
Germany: HeidelbergCement’s first-half consolidated net sales increased by 8% year-on-year in 2021 to Euro8.94bn from Euro8.25bn in the first half of 2020. Cement sales grew by 10% to 61.8Mt from 56.3Mt. Sales volumes increased in all regions, with the sharpest increase of 19%, to 15.3Mt from 12.9Mt, occurring in Western and Southern Europe. The group recorded a profit for the period of Euro825m, compared to a Euro3.1bn loss in the first half of 2020. It reduced its net debt by 17% to Euro7.5bn from Euro9bn.
Chair Dominik von Achten said “HeidelbergCement has closed the first half of 2021 with an excellent result. We have achieved record values in relevant key figures. Our ‘Beyond 2020’ strategy is taking effect: we are making good progress in all areas. Against this background, we have announced an extensive share buyback programme for the first time in the company's history. With this, we want our shareholders to participate appropriately in the economic success of our company.”
Low carbon cements go global
28 July 2021Holcim has started to unify its low carbon cement product range this week with the launch of its ECOPlanet label globally. The products are already available in Germany, Romania, Canada, Switzerland, Spain, France and Italy. The plan is to extend this to 15 countries by the end of 2021 and then to double its ‘market presence’ by the end of 2022.
The headline news is that the range will include what Holcim says is the world’s first cement product with 20% recycled construction and demolition waste. This appears to be an improvement on the group’s Susteno cement products that use fine fractions from concrete and demolition waste. This product is currently sold in Switzerland where it is advertised as saving 10% of CO2 emissions compared to a standard cement product. Both Holcim and HeidelbergCement already sell concrete products that use the coarse waste from building demolition. Other than this, Holcim says that the range will also include cements that contain calcined clay. In June 2021 subsidiary Lafarge France announced that it would produce a cement product under the ECOPlanet banner using kaolin clay with its proprietary ProximA Tech process at its integrated La Malle cement plant in Bouc-Bel-Air.
We will have to wait and see how far Holcim goes in standardisng the range between different countries. Yet, judging from what the countries that are already selling ECOPlanet are doing, it looks like it will be a variety of blended cements. At present, for example, Holcim Germany offers four products in the ECOPlanet range. These are all slag cements, with three having effective CO2 reductions of up to 70% and the fourth, ECOPlanet Zero, reaching 100% through a carbon offsetting scheme in conjunction with MoorFutures. Holcim Italy also launched a product in the range called ECOPlanet Prime using calcined clay in June 2021.
Incidentally, LafargeHolcim US announced a research project this week with the US Army about using demolition waste. It’s going to start working with the US Army Corps of Engineers’ Engineer Research and Development Center and Geocycle to look at how construction and demolition materials from military installations can be used for energy recovery and mineral recycling. Group resources at Geocycle’s Holly Hill Research Center in South Carolina, US and Holcim’s Global Innovation Center in Lyon, France will be used in the scheme.
Other low carbon cement products are available of course. Holcim is far from alone in launching low CO2 cement and concrete products. Yet the use of worldwide brand names is different. Cemex is doing something similar with the global rollout of its Vertua concrete products. It first launched Vertua in France in 2018 before going global in 2020. Holcim started to launch ECOPact Concrete in 2019. Now, Holcim has gone further by doing the same thing with cement. Given how localised cement and concrete products are, it will be instructive to see how global branding for low carbon cementitious products helps these companies. For instance, who is the target audience? It could be eco-minded self-build customers or project specifiers or government departments or industry lobbyists. Or perhaps it is simply another marketing channel to reinforce the sector’s sustainable offerings.
The other point worth considering is when will the multinational cement producers start selling sustainable cements and concretes in less rich parts of the world? While Holcim was playing with blended cements and marketing this week, Dangote Cement said that it was ready to start commissioning its new 6Mt/yr integrated plant at Okpella, Edo State in Nigeria. Another 5Mt/yr plant is also on the way in the country from Madugu Cement. It has just signed a contract for China-based Sinoma International Engineering Company to build it. When Holcim and the other cement companies start selling low carbon cements in places like Nigeria then the rise of these products will be complete.
Germany: HeidelbergCement has signed the Science-Based Targets Initiative’s (SBTi) Business Ambition for 1.5°C commitment and joined the United Nations (UN) Framework Convention on Climate Change Race to Zero campaign. The former entails a commitment to limiting global warming to 1.5°C and achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050. Race to Zero membership entails a positive commitment to beginning the transition to a decarbonised economy before the UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties in November 2021.
Chair Dominik von Achten said “As one of the world's leading building materials producers, we are continuously increasing our efforts in the global fight against climate change. We are working on all levels to reach climate neutrality – within our operations as well as through associations and initiatives such as the Race To Zero campaign. Every effort brings us closer to our goal.”
Georgia: HeidelbergCement Georgia plans to invest in additional grinding capacity at both of its cement plants. The subsidiary of Germany-based HeidelbergCement says that it will complete expansion work at both plants by the 2022 production season. It is also contemplating the possibility of clinker capacity expansions.
In early July 2021, Georgia experienced a cement shortage due to the release of pent-up demand from infrastructure projects and reduced imports from Turkey and Azerbaijan.
Germany: Former HeidelbergCement executive director Rainer Nobis’ Illustrated History of Cement and Concrete is now available in hardback online. The book traces the development of artificially produced building materials over 12,000 years, describing both the technical sequence of events and the political and economic environments in which they took place.
An unnamed reviewer said "The book is outstanding and comes at the right time. It has never been more necessary to recall the positive contribution of cement and concrete to mankind or to make it explainable. [Nobis] has more than succeeded!"
Swedish supreme court rejects application by Cementa to renew mining permit for Slite cement plant
07 July 2021Sweden: Cementa says that the decision by the Supreme Land and Environmental Court to reject its renewal application to continue mining limestone at its quarries in Gotland will create a ‘crisis’ for consumers in the autumn of 2021. The quarries supply its integrated Slite cement plant. The producer said that the ‘majority’ of Swedish cement production could cease in November 2021 following the expiry of the current licence in October 2021.
“We are seriously concerned but also surprised by the court's ruling today,” said Magnus Ohlsson, the chief executive officer of Cementa. “Limestone has been mined in Slite for over 100 years, which has built up a huge knowledge bank about how the business affects the surrounding environment. Our application is solid and clearly shows that it is possible to conduct a continued sustainable limestone mining in the area. We must go through the decision carefully and then set up the strategy for how we will handle the situation,” He added, “For Sweden, our customers and for us and our employees, it is important that political decision-makers and authorities quickly draw up new guidelines for how the supply of critical building materials such as cement and concrete should work.”
The subsidiary of Germany-based HeidebergCement originally received clearance in 2020 to renew its mining operations at the site until 2041. However, this was subsequently challenged. The current decision by the Supreme Land and Environmental Court was reached as they said they had insufficient evidence to assess the environmental impact of the application.