Displaying items by tag: Lafarge
Philippines: The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has asked cement producers in the Philippines to justify recent price hikes that led prices to exceed the suggested levels set by the agency.
Trade Undersecretary Zenaida C Maglaya said the three largest cement firms in the country - Holcim Philippines, Lafarge Republic, Cemex Philippines - have started submitting documents to support adjustments in their prices. Eagle Cement is set to meet with DTI and Board of Investment (BOI) officials to explain its pricing scheme. Maglaya said one of the large cement manufacturers had made a submission but had yet to complete all requested data due to 'antitrust issues', referring to laws addressing anti-competitive behavior among corporations.
In April 2013, Maglaya said that cement companies had increased their prices due to the higher cost of coal, a raw material that accounted for about 25% of the cement industry's manufacturing costs. Holcim reportedly raised its price by 11%, Lafarge by 7%, Cemex by 15% and Eagle Cement by 5%.
In 2012, the Cement Manufacturers' Association of the Philippines (Cemap) reported record-high sales of 18.4Mt, up by 17.5% from 15.6Mt in 2011. This was due to the boom in public and private construction projects. In the fourth quarter of 2012, 4.4Mt of cement were sold compared to 4Mt in the fourth quarter of 2011.
India: The Competition Appellate Tribunal (COMPACT) has ordered cement producers to pay 10% of a US$1.15bn fine imposed on them by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) for a price-fixing cartel. The tribunal asked 11 Indian cement producers to pay the fine within 30 days otherwise their appeal against the fine will be dismissed.
COMPAT had reserved its order over a batch of petitions filed by various cement producers and the Cement Manufacturer's Association (CMA) on 18 March 2013 after hearing them on an interim plea. In the petitions, the cement producers had challenged US$1.15bn penalty imposed on them by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) and a US$133,000 fine imposed on the CMA. The cement companies charged with cartel behaviour include Lafarge India, India Cement, JP Associates, Binani Cement, Ambuja Cement, Madras Cement and J K Cement.
The CCI had found cement producers were in violation of the provisions of the Competition Act, 2002 which deals with anti-competitive agreements, including cartels. The order was passed following probe by CCI Director General (Investigation) on a complaint filed by Builders Association.
Oficemen names Isidoro Miranda as chairman
15 May 2013Spain: Spanish association of cement producers Oficemen has appointed Isidoro Miranda as its new chairman. Miranda, the managing director of Lafarge Cementos, will replace the former chairman of Cementos Portland Valderrivas and current CEO of builder FCC, Juan Bejar. Oficemen also named Jaime Ruiz de Haro, Jose Maria Aracama, Feliciano Gonzalez and Jorge Wagner as vice presidents.
Lafarge sells 14% stake in India for Euro200m
15 May 2013India: Lafarge has signed an agreement to sell a 14% minority stake in its Indian subsidiary, Lafarge India, for Euro200m to Baring Private Equity Asia. The transaction, which is subject to the approval of local regulatory authorities, is intended to accelerate Lafarge's growth plans in India in all its product lines, inlcuding cement, aggregates and concrete.
European Q1 cement round-up
08 May 2013Once again the winter weather was bad in Europe. Once again the major European cement producers reported a fall in sales. So what has changed between the first quarters of 2012 and 2013?
Lafarge's cement sales volumes in Western Europe for the first quarter of 2013 fell by 24% year-on-year, compared to an 11% drop in 2012. Holcim's decline in volumes stabilised, compared to a 13.2% drop in 2012. HeidelbergCement's volume decline increased slightly, from a drop of 8% in 2012 to one of 10% in 2013. Cemex didn't release sales volumes figures for cement but overall net sales in its Northern Europe region fell by 13% in 2013 compared to 11% in 2012. Italcementi's cement sales volumes maintained a steady decline in both the first quarters of 2012 and 2013 at about 19%.
Even with the reduced number of working days for the quarter in 2013 taken into account, things are not looking good. Generally the results fit the prediction made by the UK Mineral Products Association (in the UK at least) that construction activity remains subdued in 2013 so far.
Profitability measures for the European divisions of the big producers, such as earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA), reinforce the gloomy outlook, suggesting that most of the cost cutting exercises aren't having much effect on investor balance sheets quite yet. Lafarge's EBITDA in Western Europe fell by 94% to Euro5m. HeidelbergCement's loss before interest and taxes (EBIT) increased to Euro91m. Cemex's operating EBITDA fell from US$55m in 2012 to a loss of US$17m in 2013. Italcementi's EBITDA decreased to Euro12.8m.
Only Holcim reversed this trend, growing its EBITDA by 43% to Euro23.5m. The Holcim Leadership Journey appears to be working. Although the sale of a 25% stake in Cement Australia certainly helped.
Elsewhere, we have an additional story at add to last week's focus on Iraq, with the announcement that Mondi has opened an industrial bags plant in Iraq. It's based in Sulaimaniyah in northern Iraq near to the new Sinoma-Lafarge project that we reported on.
Finally, the news that the Competition Commission of India has been asked to investigate a complaint against a Chinese waste heat recovery vendor raises tensions between the world's largest two cement producers. The story echoes similar trends in the gypsum wallboard business in April 2013 where a selective anti-dumping duty was imposed on imports from China, Indonesia, Thailand and the UAE. Watch this space.
Canada: Lafarge Canada, Natural Resources Canada, the Queen's Institute for Energy and Environmental Policy and Carbon Management Canada have announced that they are investing more than US$8m to develop the use of alternative fuels at Lafarge Canada's cement plant in Bath, Ontario. This multi-partner initiative intends to produce low-emission, low-carbon fuels from local supplies such as construction and demolition site debris (wood based), railway ties, and other energy containing materials that aren't presently recycled.
"We are delighted to bring this world-class demonstration initiative to the Canadian cement industry. We believe that this project is exactly in line with our mission of building better cities by lowering our carbon footprint, making use of local fuel supplies and creating local sustainable jobs," said Bob Cartmel, President and Chief Executive Officer in Eastern Canada for Lafarge Canada Inc.
According to figures released by Lafarge, the Canadian cement industry currently emits about 3.8% of the country's carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and about 30 - 40% of those emissions are due to fossil fuel use.
Carbon Management Canada (CMC), a network of Centres of Excellence that supports research to reduce CO2 emissions, is providing a US$400,000 grant over three years to a research team working on the project. Natural Resources Canada is awarding US$2.68m to Lafarge Canada to construct a full-scale demonstration plant. Other project partners include Pollution Probe, WWF Canada, Queen's University, the Cement Association of Canada, Mesa Bioenergy, Scott Environmental and Rail Link, a Metis company.
Lafarge net loss doubles in Q1
07 May 2013France: Lafarge's net loss has nearly doubled year-on-year to Euro117m for the first quarter of 2013, from Euro60m in the same quarter in 2012. The multinational building materials producer blamed the result on poor weather, production limitations in Algeria and Egypt and reduced working days in the quarter.
"The first quarter traditionally represents a small proportion of our results and is not indicative of full year trends. Our outlook remains unchanged and we expect to see cement demand growth in our markets of between 1 to 4% in 2013," said chairman and chief executive officer of Lafarge, Bruno Lafont.
Lafarge's cement volume's decreased by 8% year-on-year to 28.7Mt in the first quarter of 2013 from 31.3Mt in the same quarter in 2012. Sales fell by 6% to Euro3.14bn from Euro3.35bn. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation fell by 26% to Euro380m from Euro511m. However, the company reduced its net debt by 4% to Euro11.8bn from Euro12.4bn.
By region, cement volumes declined by 25% in north America to 1.5Mt from 2Mt, affected by adverse weather. In western Europe cement volumes declined by 24% to 2.9Mt from 3.8Mt, with sales volumes down by higher percentages in Spain and Greece. In central and eastern Europe cement volumes declined by 14% to 1.6Mt from 1.8Mt. In Middle East and Africa cement volumes declined by 10% to 10.1Mt from 11.2Mt, affected by a strong first quarter in 2012 and work stoppages and gas shortages in Algeria and Egypt respectively. Notably, Egypt showed a 31% drop in cement volumes. In Latin America cement volumes fell by 4% to 2.2Mt from 2.3Mt. In Asia, cement volumes rose by 3% to 10.4Mt from 10.2Mt. Notably, Lafarge reported that prices fell due to increased supply in China.
In its outlook the group repeated its aims to reduce net debt below Euro10bn as soon as possible in 2013. Capital expenditures will be limited initially to Euro800m in 2013. Price increases have been actively implemented in most of its markets and Lafarge expects to see benefits from this later in the year.
Mondi plant up-and-running in Iraq
03 May 2013Iraq: Mondi has announced that it recently started full production at its new industrial bags plant in Sulaimaniyah, northern Iraq. Together with its local partner Kaso Group this greenfield project is set to strengthen Mondi's industrial bags business in the expanding Middle East and North African (MENA) region. The plant is the first industrial bags plant in Iraq and will serve the growing cement industry that is rebuilding the country.
"We are proud to announce the opening of our new greenfield plant in Sulaymaniah," said Issa Azar, regional manager (MENA) Mondi Industrial Bags.
"Iraq is now one of the Middle East's growing countries and the construction industry is helping to rebuild the rebuild the nation", explained Abdel Hafez Abki, managing director of Mondi Kaso Iraq. "The new plant further strengthens Mondi as a reliable industrial bags partner in the region."
As Omar Ismail, managing director of Mass Iraq Company for industrial investment illustrates, "We are pleased with the startup of Mondi's bags factory in Iraq and are looking forward to further constructive cooperation between both companies."
Rozhgar Barzan, procurement and sourcing manager at United Cement Company (Lafarge Iraq), said, "Having Mondi's industrial bags plant close to our cement factories strengthens our long-term business relationship and is important for good logistics and supply management."
Greece blocks Heracles layoff at Halkida
01 May 2013Greece: Greek authorities have blocked a request made by Heracles Cement to lay-off 229 workers from its plant in Halkis. The move would have shut down the plant. The Supreme Labour Council of the Employment, Social Insurance and Welfare ministry, voted to reject the plan made by the Lafarge subsidiary and recommended to Labour Minister Yiannis Vroutsis not to approve the demand.
Heracles Cement announced in late March 2013 that it had stopped operations at its plant in Halkida, as part of a restructuring program of its production structure. The restructuring programme was aimed at helping the Lafarge subsidiary cope with Greece's recession in its construction sector.
Sinoma to build cement production line in Iraq
01 May 2013Iraq: Sinoma International Engineering's Nanjing subsidiary has signed an EPC contract with Iraq-based Faruk Investment Group to build a 5300t/day cement clinker production line. The project is the seventh cement production line to be built in Iraq by Sinoma's Nanjing subsidiary.