Displaying items by tag: Cemex
Cemex joins research consortium
20 August 2021Mexico: Cemex has announced that it will join forces with the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and Tecnológico de Monterrey (TEM) to promote Research and Development projects focused on ‘solving the company's current needs to offer more value to its customers, suppliers and stakeholders.’ Cemex has joined the Consortium for Research, Technology Transfer and Entrepreneurship UNAM - TEC through the signing of a ‘’ memorandum of understanding’ that took place on 19 August 2021.
"Cemex recognises the value and capacity of UNAM and TEM for the development of research,” said Ricardo Naya, President of Cemex Mexico. “We are convinced that by joining the Consortium we are taking an important step towards solving the real and current challenges we face as a company. This alliance will help us accelerate our innovation projects, such as the Future in Action program, with which we seek to achieve carbon neutrality, among many other projects that we hope to promote with both academic institutions.”
Mexico: Cemex has supplied over 100,000m3 of its Vertua concrete product range to projects in its home country. Deliveries reached 113,000m3 to 1700 projects by the end of July 2021. Outstanding orders exceed 500 projects. The company launched the low and net-zero CO2 concrete products in early 2021.
Cemex to convert car and van fleet to hybrid and electric models in Europe, Middle East and Africa region
09 August 2021World: Cemex has launched the conversion of its European, Middle Eastern and African (EMEA) fleet of company cars and vans to hybrid and electric versions. The measure forms part of its Future in Action strategy towards achieving net zero CO2 emissions.
Supply chain and procurement vice president Graham Russell said “As we accelerate our journey to net zero CO2, we are committed to addressing all aspects of our CO2 emissions.” He added “Advances in technology enable us to move efficiently to a cleaner fleet with lower carbon solutions from today.”
Cemex to upgrade Rockfort cement plant in Jamaica
06 August 2021Jamaica: Cemex plans to upgrade its integrated Rockfort plant. The project will increase the unit’s production capacity by around 0.3Mt/yr. At present it has a capacity of 2Mt/yr. The expansion will introduce new grinding additives to the manufacturing process and further enhance the production of low clinker products in the region. The upgrade is planned for the second half of 2022. Cemex operates locally through its subsidiary, Caribbean Cement.
"At Caribbean Cement Company, we reiterate our commitment to the sustainable development of Jamaica's economy. With this investment, we will create jobs and promote the local industry in the country while minimising our carbon footprint," said Jesus Gonzalez, president of Cemex South, Central America and the Caribbean.
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.”
Cemex Ventures invests in Carbon Clean
04 August 2021Mexico/UK: Cemex Ventures has become an investor in Carbon Clean. It joins existing investors Equinor Ventures, ICOS Capital and WAVE Equity Partners. The companies have invested US$8m in Carbon Clean extending its US$22m series B investment round, previously announced in July 2020, to US$30m in total. Cemex’s investment is part of its strategy to achieve its new climate action goals, including being net carbon neutral in concrete by 2050, under its Future in Action programme.
Carbon Clean has developed a modular CO2 capture and separation technology that it calls CycloneCC. As well as reducing the size of installation and construction time, it is aiming to reduce operating expenditures to around US$30/t of CO2 at an industrial scale. In 2020, the subsidiary of Cemex signed an agreement with Carbon Clean, which allowed the companies to outline a roadmap for jointly developing and implementing carbon capture technologies across cement operations.
Cemex joins the Business Ambition for 1.5°C campaign
03 August 2021Mexico: Cemex has signed the Business Ambition for 1.5°C commitment led by the We Mean Business Coalition in partnership with the Science Based Targets initiative and the United Nations (UN) Global Compact. With this commitment in place the company has also joined the Race to Zero campaign of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. All members of the Race to Zero coalition pledge to reach net-zero emissions by 2050 at the latest, in line with global efforts in limiting global warming to 1.5°C. Cemex says that these objectives align with its Future in Action programme to reduce its carbon footprint by delivering net-zero concrete globally by 2050.
“Cemex’s commitment to Climate Action runs deep and we are excited to partner with prominent global organisations to deliver on this challenge. Implementing climate solutions require active collaboration between industry, governments, non-governmental organisations and multilateral agencies, and we intend to continue to play an active role in these efforts. We encourage others to join us in this important challenge”, said Fernando A. González, the chief executive officer of Cemex.
In addition, Cemex has submitted its new 2030 target of below 475Kg CO2/t of cementitious product for validation to the Science-Based Targets initiative as part of its commitment to fulfil its ambition of carbon neutrality by 2050.
Mexico: Cemex sales grew by 17% year-on-year to US$7.27bn in the first half of 2021 from US$5.98bn in the same period in 2020. Its operating earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose by 38% to US$1.50bn from US$1.09bn. Cement and concrete sales volumes increased by 16% to 34Mt and 9% to 24.1Mm3. Growth was reported in all regions, often due to recovery from coronavirus-related lockdowns in the first half of 2020.
“Quarterly highlights include the achievement of our long-time leverage goal, a 39% increase in quarterly EBITDA, and our announcement of industry leading Climate Action targets,” said Fernando A González, the chief executive officer of Cemex. “Our growth in the quarter, which exceeded pre-pandemic levels, gives us confidence that this performance is sustainable in the second half of the year.”
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.
US: Cemex USA’s Victorville cement plant in California has won the Portland Cement Association (PCA)’s Chairman’s Safety Performance Award 2021 in the Large category. The award recognises top safety performance. The Victorville cement plant previously won the award in 2019 and 2020. Cemex USA says that the plant recorded zero incidents in 2020. Earlier in 2021, it surpassed four years without a lost time injury to any employee or contractor.
President Jaime Muguiro said “Safety is our top priority, and Victorville cement plant is demonstrating that Zero4Life is possible. We are proud of the continued commitment of our team, and their achievement is a great example of what can happen when everyone is dedicated to safety and works together to look out for one another.”