Displaying items by tag: Poland
Poland: Heidelberg Materials Polska has appointed Piotr Misz as a Regional Director.
Misz has worked for Heidelberg Materials Group in Poland since 2015. He became the subsidiary’s Head of Regional Sales in 2019. Prior to this he held positions with JD Group and RMC Beton Śląsk managing ready-mix concrete plants. He holds a master’s degree in economics from the University of Opole.
Poland: The Association of Polish Cement Producers has expressed increasing concern over quadrupled year-on-year growth in cement imports from Ukraine, to 330,000t in 2023.
Zbigniew Pilch, the head of the association, highlighted the contrasting rise in imports and 12% fall in domestic production, to 16.6Mt. He said “The scale of imports from Ukraine is growing almost every month, reaching nearly 50% of total imports in January 2024. These volumes are deeply concerning.”
A primary issue raised by the association is the difference in environmental regulations faced by Ukrainian and Polish cement producers. The association argues that Ukrainian producers are not subjected to as rigorous climate policies as Polish producers, leading to an uneven playing field. Additionally, the localised nature of the cement market means eastern Polish producers are particularly affected by the ‘influx’ of Ukrainian cement.
Cement production in Poland declines in 2023
04 April 2024Poland: The Polish Cement Association reported a 12% fall in cement production in 2023, with output reaching 16.6Mt, according to data from the Central Statistical Office. The decline reflects challenges faced by the construction sector amidst a slowing economy, despite a slight GDP growth of over 0.2%.
Zbigniew Pilch, chief marketing officer of the association, said "2023 was a difficult year for the construction sector as the economy slowed down while GDP grew by a little over 0.2%." The initial data for 2024 suggests a potential rebound in the Polish cement industry, however, with Pilch adding "In February 2024, cement production totalled 1.2Mt, which represents a 33% year-on-year increase.”
Xavier Guesnu appointed as CEO of Lafarge France
28 February 2024France: Holcim has appointed Xavier Guesnu as the CEO of Lafarge France. He succeeds François Petry, who is leaving the group.
Guesnu started his international career at Legrand before joining Bain & Company in 2005. He joined Lafarge in 2010 as the head of strategic business development and mergers and acquisitions. Operational management roles followed first in eastern Canada as managing director from 2013, then as the managing director of Holcim Poland from 2018. He holds an engineering degree from the École des Mines de Paris.
Buzzi grows sales in 2023
12 February 2024Italy: Buzzi recorded consolidated sales of Euro4.32bn in 2023, up by 8.1% from Euro4.32bn in 2022. This came in spite of a 7% year-on-year drop in the company’s cement sales volumes, to 26.3Mt. In its domestic market of Italy, Buzzi raised its sales by 13% to Euro818m. In the US, sales grew by 9.5% to Euro1.74bn, in Mexico by 33% to Euro1.03bn, in Germany by 9.2% to Euro872m, in the Czech Republic and Slovakia by 1.8% to Euro205m, in Poland by 11% to Euro157m and in Ukraine by 43% to Euro85.6m. On the other hand, Buzzi’s sales fell by 5.6% in Luxembourg and the Netherlands, to Euro214m, by 2% in Russia to Euro285m, and by 1.6% in Brazil to Euro394m.
The company said “The increasingly evident effects of monetary restriction, the worsening of consumer and business confidence, and the uncertainties dictated by the growing geopolitical tensions in Ukraine and the Middle East continue to weigh on the international economic framework. In fact, in the last part of 2023, global economic activity weakened further, with international trade contracting in the third quarter.”
Lafarge Polska and partners win EU grant for Gdansk CO2 terminal
13 December 2023Poland: The European Commission has granted Lafarge Polska, Air Liquide Polska and energy provider Orlen Euro2.54m in funding for their construction of a 3Mt/yr CO2 terminal in Gdansk, Pomeranian Voivodeship. The terminal will transmit captured CO2 from local industrial sites, including 1Mt/yr from Lafarge Polska’s Kujawy w Blelawach cement plant in Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship, for sequestration below the North Sea. ISB News has reported that the partners will use the European Union funding to complete plans, including front-end engineering design, for the terminal.
Europe: Mexico-based Cemex says that it will soon have obtained Type III environmental product declaration (EPD) certificates for the cement products it produces across its European network of cement plants. EPDs have been published for selected cements since 2021. Cemex has confirmed the publication of EPDs for all cement types in Poland and the publication of EPDs for its products produced in Croatia and Spain by the end of 2023. Phase Two of the publication process will see EPDs for cements produced in the UK, Germany and Czech Republic in early 2024, which will complete the full roll out in Europe.
Sergio Menéndez, President of Cemex Europe, Middle East, Africa & Asia, said, "EPD certificates enable our customers to make an informed choice about which materials offer the lowest carbon footprint and reduce the environmental impact of their construction projects. We have therefore made securing these objective and reliable documents, which demonstrate that our products meet the requirements of more sustainable construction, a priority across our whole European operation. I am very pleased with the progress made so far and look forward to celebrating the completion of this process."
SigmaRoc buys CRH’s European lime business
22 November 2023Europe: Ireland-based CRH has agreed to sell its European lime business to UK-based SigmaRoc for US$1.1bn. The business controls 16 sites across the Czech Republic, Germany, Ireland, Poland and the UK. CRH says that the first phase of the transaction, which is scheduled for completion in early 2024, will hand over control of the Czech Republic, Germany and Ireland businesses to SigmaRoc, while control of the Poland and UK business will pass over in two subsequent phases.
CRH chief executive officer Albert Manifold said “The decision to divest at an attractive valuation follows a comprehensive review of the Business and demonstrates CRH’s active approach to portfolio management. The proceeds from the divestment will provide us with significant additional capital allocation opportunities to deliver further growth and value creation for our shareholders.”
Update on construction and demolition waste, October 2023
25 October 2023Cementos Molins has been celebrating the first anniversary this week of its alternative raw materials unit at its Sant Vicenç dels Horts plant near Barcelona. It has processed 75,000t of waste since September 2022 when the site started up. More is yet to come as the unit has a production capacity of up to 200,000t/yr. The facility receives waste in coarse, granular, powder and sludge formats. Waste from concrete plants is crushed and screened to produce recycled aggregate. Industrial and construction waste is dosed and homogenised to produce alternative raw materials for cement production.
Global Cement Weekly has covered construction and demolition waste (CDW) a couple of times already so far in 2023. A number of cement producers are investing in the sector - including Holcim, Heidelberg Materials, CRH, Cemex – by developing technology, buying up other companies, setting up internal CDW divisions and so on. Holcim and Heidelberg Materials have been the more obviously active participants over the past six months based on media coverage. In September 2023 Holcim France commissioned the Saint-Laurent-de-Mûre alternative raw materials plant and Holcim Group invested in Neustark, a company promoting technology to sequester CO2 in CDW. In August 2023 Lafarge Canada also completed the first stage of a pilot project to use CDW in cement production at its St. Constant plant in Quebec. Heidelberg Materials meanwhile announced in October 2023 that a forthcoming upgrade to its Górażdże cement plant in Poland would include a new CDW recycling unit and in September 2023 it launched a CDW division for its subsidiary Hanson UK.
Previously we have described how the European Union (EU) has set recovery targets for CDW. However, McKinsey & Company published research in March 2023 setting out the economic case for cement and concrete companies looking at CDW. It estimated that “an increased adoption of circular technologies could be linked to the emergence of new financial net-value pools worth up to roughly Euro110bn by 2050.” It is not a certainty and there is risk involved, but adopting circular practices is one way to reduce this risk. It then went on to predict that recirculating materials and minerals could generate nearly Euro80bn/yr in earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) for the cement and concrete sectors by 2050. The biggest portion of this could come from using CDW in various ways such as a clinker replacement or as an aggregate in concrete production, or the use of unhydrated cement ‘fines.’ Capturing and using CO2 and increasing alternative fuels (AF) substitution rates would have a financial impact but not to the same scale.
Graph 1: CO2 abatement cost via circular technologies for cement and concrete sectors. Source: McKinsey & Company.
Graph 1 above puts all of the McKinsey circular technology suggestions in one place with the prediction that all of these methods could reduce CO2 emissions from cement and concrete production by 80% in 2050 based on an estimated demand of 4Bnt/yr. The first main point they made was that technologies using CO2, such as curing ready-mix or precast concrete, can create positive economic value at carbon prices of approximately Euro80/t of CO2. Readers should note that the EU emissions Trading Scheme CO2 price has generally been above Euro80t/yr since the start of 2022. The second point to note is that using CDW could potentially save money by offering CO2 abatement at a negative cost through avoiding landfill gate fees and reducing the amount of raw materials required. This is dependent though on government regulation on CO2 prices, landfill costs and so on.
Cement producers have been clearly aware of the potential of CDW for a while now, based on the actions described above and elsewhere, and they are jockeying for advantage. These companies are familiar with the economic rationale for AF and secondary cementitious materials (SCM) in different countries and locations. CDW usage is similar but with, in McKinsey’s view, existing CO2 prices, landfill costs, and regulatory frameworks all playing a part in the calculations. Graph 1 is a prediction but it is also another way of showing the path of least resistance to decarbonisation. It is cheaper to start with AF, SCMs and CDW rather than barrelling straight into carbon capture. The beauty here is that cement and concrete sold, say, 50 years ago is now heading back to the producers in the form of CDW and it still has value.
Górażdże Cement to invest Euro261m in carbon capture and waste concrete recycling at Górażdże cement plant
05 October 2023Poland: Górażdże Cement has announced an investment of Euro261m in planned sustainability upgrades to its Górażdże cement plant in Opole Voivodeship, the Polish News Bulletin newspaper has reported. The Heidelberg Materials subsidiary plans to build a carbon capture installation, a green energy source and a facility to recycle construction and demolition waste for use in its cement production.