Displaying items by tag: Plant
Mozambique: Chinese West International Holding subsidiary Dugongo Cement has inaugurated its 2.0Mt/yr integrated Matutuine cement plant in Maputo province. The unit had an investment of US$330m, according to the Mozambique News Agency. The site includes a captive 36MW charcoal-fired power station and a residential complex for some of its 300 permanent staff.
President Filipe Nyusi said, “The Dugongo Cement plant will improve the economy of the cement industry, because it will reduce the import of inputs such as clinker."
Lafarge Jordan files for insolvency
27 May 2021Jordan: Lafarge Jordan has had its insolvency filing approved by a court in Jordan. The Jordan Times has reported that the company has capital of US$84.6m, while its accumulated losses are US$169m. It has blamed weak demand and an inability to cope with variable operating and administrative costs made worse by the coronavirus crisis.
The company said that it plans to continue its reform process so that it is able to meet its obligations under insolvency law. It added, “The company intends to adopt a well-thought-out and actionable financial plan to pay off its debts and meet its liabilities within reasonable legal periods and in agreement with creditors.”
The subsidiary of Switzerland-based LafargeHolcim owns two integrated cement plants in the country. However, its Fuheis plant has been mothballed since the early 2010s. Its Rashadiyah plant has two production lines but one has been unused for over a decade and the other is reportedly operating at 40% of its capacity.
HeidelbergCement sells up in western US
26 May 2021HeidelbergCement confirmed the rumours this week with the announcement that it was selling assets in the western US to Martin Marietta for US$2.3bn. The deal covers subsidiary Lehigh Hanson’s US West region cement, aggregates, ready-mixed concrete and asphalt businesses in California, Arizona, Oregon and Nevada. This includes two of its cement plants, with the exception of the 1.5Mt/yr Permanente cement plant in California, related distribution terminals, 17 active aggregates sites and several downstream operations. The companies expect to conclude the deal by 2022 but naturally it is subject to approval by competition bodies.
Well, this is a big one considering that one of the catalysts for the group’s divestment plan was the reduction of the value of its total assets by Euro3.4bn in July 2020 following a review. Depending on the exchange rate, the value of the divestment to Martin Marietta covers half to two thirds of that amount. Group chairman Dominik von Achten later told the media in February 2021 that the company was planning to sell the first of the five assets in early-to-mid 2021. However, cement isn’t the full story here since Lehigh Hanson operates three integrated plants in California and seven terminals. So, by elimination, the Tehachapi and Redding plants are the ones that are being sold along with some combinations of the terminals. Both of those plant have production capacities of around 0.8Mt/yr. Unless the terminals being sold have been valued highly, then the majority of the deal appears to encompass some or all of the 25-odd aggregate sites, 15 asphalt sites and 30 ready-mix concrete sites the company operates in the four states.
On the cement side it doesn’t seem unreasonable at face value for the authorities to allow Martin Marietta to take over most of Lehigh Hanson’s business in the region since it should broaden competition from a production angle. Instead of five companies in California with integrated plants, there will be six. For Martin Marietta, the deal also carries the feel of unfinished business in the region since it briefly held a cement business there for around a year in the mid-2010s. It acquired Texas Industries (TXI) in July 2014 and then sold the cement business in California to CalPortland in September 2015.
Both companies are pursuing different strategies. HeidelbergCement says it is hunkering down on its other four North American regions – the US Midwest, Northeast and South, plus Canada - through selected ‘bolt-on’ acquisitions and plant upgrades. Martin Marietta says it wants to take advantage of long term demand trends such as increased state infrastructure investment in California and Arizona and private-sector growth. It also reassured shareholders with its version of the acquisition/divestment story by saying it was going to generate value the same way it did previously with TXI. It’s a small thing but the acquisition also sees the US’ largest domestic cement producer increase its production base. The top five North American cement producers will remain controlled by companies headquartered in Europe but it is a step towards regionalism.
As for who’s right, in the short term, the west coast region looks good. The area included some of the best performing states in 2020 in terms of growth in cement consumption year-on-year in 2020 with the exception of Oregon. In its winter forecast the Portland Cement Association (PCA) attributed growth in the Mountain region of the US (including Nevada) to underlying economic fundamentals and favourable demographic trends, although it expected this to slow down in 2021. In the Pacific region it forecast consumption to grow modestly in 2021 due to residential construction. As if to underline the current situation, Cemex decided to recommission a kiln in Mexico in February 2021 to cope with cement shortages and project delays in California, Arizona and Nevada.
In the face of these figures HeidelbergCement’s decision to sell suggests either it dangled a juicy proposition with good short term prospects in front of the buyers or its long term projections are pointing elsewhere. Selling up, yet holding onto its largest cement plant in the region, also smacks of hedging its bets. No doubt it will be holding on to a few terminals too. On the other hand, it would be very interesting indeed to know what part, if any, HeidelbergCement’s internal carbon price played in its decision to divest in the western US. California has the country’s biggest carbon emissions trading scheme (ETS). If say, legislators suddenly decided to follow the price trend of the European Union’s ETS then things might look different.
US: HeidelbergCement subsidiary Lehigh Hanson has agreed to sell its assets in its US West region to Martin Marietta for US$2.3bn. The transaction includes the sale of its business activities in cement, aggregates, ready-mixed concrete and asphalt in California, Arizona, Oregon and Nevada, with the exception of the Permanente cement plant and quarry. The sale includes two cement plants with related distribution terminals, 17 active aggregates sites and several downstream operations. The companies expect to conclude the deal by 2022 subject to regulatory approval.
“The sale of our US West region activities is a major step in our portfolio optimisation as part of our ‘Beyond 2020’ strategy,” said Dominik von Achten, chairman of the managing board of HeidelbergCement. “We are simplifying our portfolio in North America and prioritising on the strongest market positions.” Chris Ward, president and chief executive officer of Lehigh Hanson added, “We will accelerate the build-out of our positions in the four key regions Canada, Midwest, Northeast and South through selected bolt-on acquisitions and capacity expansion projects in the future.”
OPGC dispatches fly ash to ACC
24 May 2021India: Power company OPGC has dispatched its first shipment of fly ash to ACC’s Jhinkpani cement plant in West Singhbhum district, Jharkhand. The Pioneer newspaper has reported that the shipment consists of 3450t of fly ash from its Ib power plant. The power plant has fly ash storage facilities with a capacity of 6900t. It previously supplied ash to a Star Cement cement plant in Assam.
US: The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has filed an administrative complaint and authorised a legal suit against Lehigh Cement’s acquisition of Keystone Cement. The HeidelbergCement subsidiary acquired the subsidiary of Mexico-based Elementia in September 2019. The commission said that the acquisition may be harmful to competition in the grey cement market in Pennsylvania and New Jersey as it reduces the number of competitors to three from four and enlarges the largest. It added that Keystone Cement’s aggressive pricing had previously caused Lehigh Cement to lower its prices.
The case will go to trial at administrative court in November 2021.
HeidelbergCement’s Lengfurt cement plant receives Platinum Concrete Sustainability Council certification
21 May 2021Germany: HeidelbergCement has completed a comprehensive Concrete Sustainability Council (CSC) certification campaign at its 10 cement plants, 12 concrete plants and five aggregates sites underwent the certification process. One cement plant– the Lengfurt, Bavaria, plant - and two concrete plants achieved Platinum certification. The Lengfurt cement plant is the first German cement plant to do so.
Senior manager sustainable construction and public affairs Christian Artelt said “CSC certification allows production sites to gain a holistic understanding of their sustainability performance.” He added “Our successful engagement in CSC certification highlights our commitment to sustainability.”
Holcim Argentina inaugurates new clinker line and grinding plant at Malagueño cement plant
20 May 2021Argentina: Holcim Argentina, part of Switzerland-based LafargeHolcim, has inaugurated a new 0.5Mt/yr clinker production line at its Malagueño cement plant in Cordoba. The new line increases the plant’s clinker production capacity by 45%. Additionally, a new 630,000t/yr grinding plant will increase the plant’s cement capacity to 4.7Mt/yr.
Chief executive officer Christian Dedeu said, "With this expansion of our capacity, more than 450km of road and more than 7.2Mm2 of housing can be built - equivalent to more than 72,000 houses." He added, "The new line is a big bet on the domestic market and responds to the growing national demand for materials for residential construction, private investment and infrastructure works."
Portugal: Denmark-based FLSmidth has won a contract to supply a chlorine bypass system to Cimpor’s Souselas cement plant. The aim is to eliminate chlorine build-up in the plant’s flue gas after the company increases its refuse-derived fuel (RDF) usage rate to 60%. Work is scheduled to begin in mid-2021, and production will stop until its completion and the commissioning of the installation in early 2022. No value for the order has been disclosed.
Cimpor Cement project manager Paulo Evangelista said, “Investing in the chlorine bypass is a key step on our journey towards reducing our environmental footprint. On top of the obvious incentives to increase our fuel substitution, like lower CO2 emissions and financial savings, we are experiencing better waste handling infrastructure in the local area. All this has made it an easy choice to make. FLSmidth knows our Souselas site and has been key in delivering a solution that will enable this next phase on our sustainability journey.”
Republic Cement and Building Materials to roll out quality control systems across plants by 2022
20 May 2021Philippines: CRH and Aboitiz Equity Ventures subsidiary Republic Cement and Building Materials plans to roll out a quality control system to detect product quality across all of its cement plants by 2022. Business World News has reported that the company currently uses data science-based techniques at three sites. It says that it uses the method to predict the 28-day compressive strength without moulding and curing of a batch of cement.
Manufacturing vice president Lloyd Vicente said that with accurate predictions, “our operations can make it quick and precise adjustments to our recipe and other operating parameters, therefore reducing our CO2 emissions.”