Displaying items by tag: Holcim Mexico

Colombia: Holcim Colombia has appointed Martín Costanian as its CEO. He succeeds Marco Maccarelli in the position, who has been appointed as the CEO for Holcim Switzerland, Italy, South Germany and Haut Rhin.

Costanian, a Uruguayan national, has worked for Holcim since 2019 when he joined the group as the Chief Financial Officer for Holcim México. He later joined the group’s Strategy and Growth Directorate in early 2024. Earlier in his career he held finance roles for Keurig Dr Pepper and 3M, and has held roles with Kraft Foods Group. Costanian is a science and business graduate from the Universidad Católica del Uruguay and holds a master of business administration (MBA) from the Carlson School of Management, part of University of Minnesota.

Switzerland: Holcim has appointed Marco Maccarelli as its Director of Central and Eastern Europe. He will succeed Simon Kronenberg in the post in June 2024, according to the 24 Heures newspaper. The position includes the responsibility of head of Holcim Schweiz.

Maccarelli is currently working as the CEO of Holcim Colombia. Prior to this, he worked for Holcim Mexico first as Director Innovation and Commercial Development and later as Director Cement Sales & Retail. He has worked for Holcim for over 15 years and holds more than 20 years’ experience in the construction sector.

Mexico: Holcim Mexico has appointed Jorge González Mateu as its chief financial officer (CFO). He previously worked as the Head of Controlling and the Deputy CFO for Holcim Mexico. González Mateu has worked for Holcim group since 2013 with similar financial roles for Holcim Ecuador, as well as other related positions for the group in Spain and Switzerland. Prior to this he worked for Tarmac in Spain.

Mexico: Holcim México will invest US$55m in the construction of a new cement mill at its Macuspana plant in Tabasco state. The producer says that the mill will increase the plant's cement capacity by 50% to 1.5Mt/yr. This will lead to an increase in the plant’s total workforce to 300 people.

General director Jaime Hill said "This investment in Tabasco reflects our firm conviction in the potential of the Mexican southeast and our commitment to the sustainable development of the region. Through this expansion, we will not only increase our capacity to supply the states of Tabasco, Chiapas, Campeche, Yucatán and Quintana Roo, but also reinforce our role in the decarbonisation of the construction industry, offering low-emission products like our cements from the ECOPlanet range."

Mexico: Holcim Mexico has concluded a deal to set up a trial of hydrogen injection in kilns at one or more of its seven cement plants in Mexico. The producer says that the technology will optimise combustion processes and facilitate the increased substitution of alternative fuel.

Mexico: Holcim Mexico says that its supply of cement to the government’s Tren Maya railway project is 170,000t/month. This corresponds to 50 – 60% of its total production volumes. Local press has reported that construction of the 1500km-long Tren Maya railway will consume 1Mm³ of concrete. Holcim supplied its cement for Sections 1 – 3 of the line between 2020 and 2022. It is currently supplying Section 5, which is 50% complete. The cement comes from the company’s Orizaba, Veracruz, plant; its Macuspana, Tabasco, plant and its Mérida, Yucatán, plant.

Holcim Mexico’s infrastructure development manager Fernando Roldan said "Our participation has been a challenge, but the relationship we have with the suppliers and with the construction companies in charge of the railway has allowed us to meet the requirements."

Mexico: Holcim Mexico has commenced production of its Fuerte Más reduced-CO₂ cement at its cement plants in Macuspana and Tabasco at a combined rate of 60,000t/yr. The cement offers 50% reduced CO₂ emissions and 10% higher physical performance than ordinary Portland cement (OPC). The El Economista newspaper has reported that Holcim Mexico replaces some of the clinker in the cement with locally-sourced minerals from Southeast Mexico. Chemical compounds in the material colour the cement red.

The Centre for Technological Innovation for Construction (CITEC) Toluca verified the product as suitable for all applications. Holcim Mexico's industrial director Adrián Belli said that comparable green cements are currently only available in France and Italy.

A dispute between Cemex and Vulcan Materials over the use of a terminal in Quintana Roo state heated up this week as the two companies publicly argued over the situation. US-based Vulcan Materials went to the press to say that the Mexican police had forced entry into the facility south of Cancun, run by its subsidiary Calica, with orders to allow a Cemex ship to discharge cement. Vulcan denied that the authorities had any legal basis for the action and said that it was an illegal occupation. Cemex then responded with a press release explaining that the two companies had held a previous contractual relationship for joint-usage of the terminal until the agreement broke down in late 2022. It says it was granted an injunction by a local court to continue using the terminal while legal proceedings carry on.

The disagreement over the use of the Punta Venado terminal dates back to at least 2018 when Vulcan initiated a North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) arbitration claim over alleged planning and environmental issues in relation to a nearby quarry. Dialogue continued, but Calica’s operations in the area were shut down by the government in May 2022. Subsequently, Vulcan’s total volumes of shipped aggregates fell by 6% year-on-year to 54Mt in the fourth quarter of 2022, partly due to the closure.

Unfortunately, the argument has become increasingly politicised with Mexican president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador criticising Vulcan for its environmental record and US senators using the Vulcan case as an alleged example of Mexico treating US companies unfairly. Some media commentators have also noted that the Mexican government is promoting a number of large-scale infrastructure schemes in the region, including the Tren Maya project, a new 1500km train line around the Yucatan peninsula, which would link tourist towns such as Cancún with historical sites like Palenque.

Graph 1: Grey cement production in Mexico, 2018 - 2022. Source: National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI).

Data from the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI) shows that rolling annual cement production in Mexico peaked at around 43Mt in late 2018 before falling to 39Mt in mid-2020. It later recovered to a peak of just under 46Mt in mid-2021. It has since dropped a little to mid-2022 and then started to trend upwards again. The nominal cement production capacity in Mexico is 60Mt/yr according to the Global Cement Directory 2023. Yet, the actual production capacity has been reported in local press as being 42Mt/yr, lower than the annual cement production of 43.9Mt in 2022. In February 2023 it was reported that the Mexican government was taking steps to 'implement import facilities' to support more cement being imported. This was due to shortages in certain states particular in the south-west of the country.

Cemex’s net sales in Mexico grew by 11% to US$3.84bn in 2022 and this was attributed partly to tourism-related construction in ‘the peninsulas.’ Holcim noted ‘market softness’ for cement in the country but reported growth for concrete due to infrastructure projects such as the Tren Maya. Cemento Moctezuma’s net sales rose by 2.6% to US$878m. Despite rising sales, both Cemex and Cemento Moctezuma reported falling earnings in 2022.

The dispute between Cemex and Vulcan Materials overlaps with wider trends on how and where the Mexican cement market is developing following a lull in the late 2010s. Production is growing in certain parts of the country, particularly in the Yucatan peninsula due to various infrastructure projects and tourism-related demand. However, the overall economic environment appears to have decreased earnings for some producers. However Cemex said that this was starting to correct itself in late 2022, as prices caught up with inflation. Portraying the Cemex - Vulcan situation in nationalistic terms is unhelpful, especially since Cemex made more money in the US than Mexico in 2022! However, this may be yet another example of more isolationist economic policies along the same lines as the US Inflation Reduction Act.

Mexico: Holcim Mexico has launched ISO14044-compliant full-lifecycle Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) for its ready-mix concrete range. The company says that the EPDs will help designers and builders to inform their materials selection processes. The Redacción newspaper has reported that data from five cement plants contributed to the declarations.

Concrete and aggregates director Manuel Sirtori congratulated the team for "demonstrating leadership by promoting transparency and reducing emissions in the construction industry."

Mexico: Holcim Mexico has replaced 11% of its concrete truck fleet with 61 new natural gas and Euro V diesel-fuelled Sinotruk vehicles worth US$6.2m. The company says that some of the trucks run on 100% natural gas, reducing both their CO₂ and particulate emissions by 25%. Parent company Holcim hopes eventually to roll out Sinotruk vehicles throughout operations in its Latin American region. Each truck has an 8m3-greater capacity than Holcim Mexico’s previous models, and also generates less noise.