Displaying items by tag: LafargeHolcim
India: ACC’s sales have risen as its Jamul cement plant in Chhattisgarh has ramped-up production increasing its presence in the east of the country. Its sales rose by 12.7% year-on-year to US$1bn in the first half of 2017 from US$888m in the same period in 2016. Its cement sales volumes rose by 6.9% to 13.3Mt from 12.5Mt. Its net profit after tax rose by 12.5% to US$83m from US$74m. The subsidiary of LafargeHolcim also launched two new brands – ACC Suraksha and ACC HPC – in the preceding quarter.
Hima to supply big Chinese projects in Uganda
14 July 2017Uganda: Lafarge’s subsidiary in Uganda, Hima Cement, will provide raw materials for the ongoing infrastructure projects being undertaken by China Communications Construction Company Limited in the country under a new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).
Allan Ssemakula, the commercial director at Hima Cement said the firm will supply 30,000t of cement to the Entebbe Airport expansion project for a period of five years, 60,000t for the Mubende-Kakumiro-Kagadi road and 30,000t for the Soroti-Moroto road project for a period of three years.
“Hima Cement’s clients benefit from the technical expertise and product innovation that are the hallmark of LafargeHolcim Group. This Memorandum of Understanding is testament to our diverse product offerings and also avails solutions that fit the unique needs of our clients,” said Ssemakula.
Update on Chile
12 July 2017Sad news this week from the Talcahuano cement plant in Chile that is to stop producing clinker. Local media reports that the Cementos Bío Bío unit has decided to import clinker from Asia instead, which will reduce its production costs. At the same time it has laid off a third of its workforce. The plant has been producing cement since 1961.
The decision carries echoes of Holcim New Zealand’s closure of its Westport cement plant in 2016, another unit in a country on the Pacific Rim. However, in that country LafargeHolcim has purposely moved towards becoming a distribution company by opening import terminals and depots. Plus the local subsidiary benefits from the cement-trading arm of a multinational company. By contrast, local producer Cementos Bío Bío still retains two integrated plants and a grinding plant in Chile. Following the closure its production share from integrated plants will drop to 2.4Mt/yr (39%) from 3.2Mt/yr (45%). The country will retain a total production capacity of 6.2Mt/yr from its clinker producing plants.
The timing of Cementos Bío Bío’s decision is also interesting given that the Chilean competition authority (TDLC) approved Hurtado Vicuña Group to buy a controlling stake in Cemento Polpaico from LafargeHolcim in early July 2017. The deal was originally announced in October 2016 to sell LafargeHolcim’s 54.3% stake in Cemento Polpaico for US$225m. The sale includes one integrated plant with a cement production capacity of 2.3Mt/yr and two grinding plants. Hurtado Vicuña has not been required by the regulator to sell any of its cement units but it has been asked to sell parts of its concrete business and to abide to a ban on repurchasing the assets within 10 years. Hurtado Vicuña owns Cementos BSA, a subsidiary that runs the El Bosque cement grinding plant in Santiago and it has just started-up production at a new 0.95Mt/yr grinding plant at Quilicura, also near the capital.
In its 2016 annual report LafargeHolcim reported that cement sales volumes of cement fell in Chile due to a fall in the residential construction market in the second half of the year. However it did manage to raise its operating earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBTIDA) off the back of higher prices and lower production costs compared to the previous year. Cementos Bío Bío concurred with this assessment of the market in its 2016 report, lamenting the country’s poor economic growth since 2015 and declines in the mining and construction sectors. Despite this its cement despatches rose very slightly to 1.56Mt in 2016. The big drop in its sales occurred in 2014 when its sales fell by 10% year-on-year to 1.51Mt. More recently, Bío Bío noted a 37% decrease in its operating profit for its cement, concrete and lime division for the first quarter of 2017 due to falling sales volumes and margins in cement and lime. However, it did benefit from falling costs for energy and petcoke inputs. The group also announced plans to sell a minority stake in itself in February 2017.
These stories show another country that is realigning its cement industry to a clinker-rich world market. Chile appears to retain a ‘big three’ group of local clinker producers that has shifted with the rise of Cementos BSA and the departure of LafargeHolcim. However, the market share in the cement grinding business has changed significantly as Cementos BSA has gained both an integrated plant and a more national profile, away from the capital, with its grinding plants. Once the local market picks up it will be interesting to see whether this trend towards clinker import and local grinding continues.
Holcim Romania opens cement terminal at Roman
12 July 2017Romania: Holcim Romania has opened a Euro0.5m cement terminal in the town of Roman in Neamț County. The new unit will mainly supply cement to customers in the Moldovan region of the country. The 13,120m2 terminal has a railway connection and loading equipment for both bulk and bagged cement.
Southeast Asia: LafargeHolcim has signed an agreement on biodiversity conservation with Fauna & Flora International (FFI). Under the agreement, FFI will perform an independent external review of the group’s existing biodiversity management plans (BMP) at sites in Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines; contribute to the development of a group-wide strategy on karst management; identify opportunities for enhancing biodiversity in quarry rehabilitation; and organise a stakeholder dialogue bringing together an external expert group, local government, local non government organisations and LafargeHolcim staff to consult on BMP recommendations. The agreement is intended to help LafargeHolcim meet the biodiversity aspects of its 2030 sustainability plan.
“Biodiversity loss is a major global challenge. We aim to be good stewards of the land where we operate and demonstrate that proper management of quarries can reduce and reverse our impacts and even generate positive change for biodiversity. The new engagement work with FFI will play a key role in achieving our commitment,” said Caroline Hempstead, Group Head of Communications, Public Affairs & Sustainable Development at LafargeHolcim.
Morocco: LafargeHolcim says that its 0.2Mt/yr Laâyoune cement grinding plant is complete. The cement producer is set to start production later in July 2017 it said in a director’s report, according to Medias 24. The company is also about to start building a 1.7Mt/yr cement plant in the Souss-Massa region. Thyssenkrupp Industrial Solutions has been contracted to build this project.
UK: Aggregate Industries has appointed Pablo Libreros as its Growth and Innovation Director. He will be responsible for developing, recommending and delivering growth and innovation opportunities for the business. This will include facilitating greater cross promotion of products both in the UK business and in the wider group.
Libreros joins the UK subsidiary of LafargeHolcim after working for the parent company in Latin America since 2011. Most recently he was the chief executive officer (CEO) for Holcim Costa Rica. Prior to this he held various senior roles, including Logistics Director and Supply Chain Director within the business’ Brazil division. He has also worked in a number of ecological public sector positions in Paris, most notably as an advisor to the Minister for sustainable development in France.
France: LafargeHolcim has launched a Euro100m upgrade to build a new clinker production line at its Martres cement plant in Tolosane. Construction work on the new line will start in the third quarter of 2018 and will be completed in mid-2020. A key feature of the upgrade will be a focus on using alternative fuels in the new kiln, particularly tyres. Following the project’s completion the plant will have a substitution rate of 80% from 30% at present.
The project, the largest investment made by the group in France for 40 years, is part of a wider package of Euro300m for France that the company announced in 2016. Tenders for the project at Martres will be issued in early 2018. LafargeHolcim has also made a point of saying that priority will be given to local, French and European companies. Previously the French media published concerns that the project might be awarded to a Chinese contractor.
India: Ambuja Cement has purchased a limestone block in the Chandrapur district of Maharashtra. An estimated limestone resource of 42Mt was acquired via state auction for a price of 125% of the value of mineral dispatched. Formal confirmation via the state government is expected to follow soon.
India: Odisha’s State Level Single Window Clearance Authority (SLSWCA) has approved a proposal by Ambuja Cements to build a 1.5M/yr cement grinding plant at the Industrial Growth Centre, Jharsuguda. The proposed unit will use an area of 125 acres, according to the Press Trust of India. It is expected to create 300 direct and indirect jobs. Once complete the plant will join the company’s five integrated cement plants and eight grinding plants.