World: Market Research Future has forecast a composite annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.3% between 2022 and 2030. This would result in a market value of US$505bn in 2030, compared with US$335bn in 2022. The report added that the rate of new construction projects is increasing across all regions.

Taiwan: A 57-year-old worker died after falling into slag cement in the production line of CHC Resources Corporation's Kaohsiung slag cement plant at 16:00 on 22 June 2023. CNA English News has reported that the victim was submerged for a prolonged period. A second man, aged 51, also entered the cement, but escaped with 'minor injuries.' The workers had been carrying out cleaning work on the line. Local authorities reportedly said that CHC Resources Corporation had 'No proper safety protocols' in place for the activity.

Mining and materials company Afrimat said it was buying Lafarge South Africa this week. The assets it is acquiring include aggregate quarries, ready mix concrete (RMX) batching plants, one integrated cement plant, two cement grinding plants, cement terminals and fly-ash sources. The means of purchase is somewhat unusual, as Afrimat is paying around US$6m but it also appears to be taking responsibility for around US$50m of outstanding debt that Lafarge South Africa owes its parent company, Holcim. In a statement Afrimat’s chief executive officer (CEO) Andries van Heerden talked up the benefits for his company in terms of the boost to its aggregates and concrete businesses.

This is quite the change from 2012 when India-based Aditya Birla Group was reportedly looking into buying Lafarge South Africa. At this time the value for the business for a similar mix of assets, including 55 RMX plants and 20 quarries, was said to be to US$900m. Prior to this, Lafarge South Africa spent around US$170m in the late 2000s on increasing the production capacity at its integrated Lichtenburg plant and building its Randfontein grinding plant. Then in 2014, when the merger between Lafarge and Holcim was announced, Lafarge consolidated its Nigeria-based and South Africa-based operations as Lafarge Africa. It later decided to move the South African business to another Holcim subsidiary, Caricement, in 2019 to keep the business in Nigeria more profitable by reducing its debts. This transaction was valued at US$317m. At the time chair Mobolaji Balogun said that Lafarge South Africa’s operations had faced a challenging market in South Africa, with shrinking demand in an aggressively competitive sector. Afrimat is now buying Lafarge South Africa and its subsidiaries from Caricement.

Holcim isn’t alone in making an effort to sell up in South Africa. In April 2023 the Valor Econômico newspaper reported that Brazil-based InterCement was receiving offers for its remaining African-based assets in Mozambique and South Africa with a potential deal valued at around US$300m. InterCement runs Natal Portland Cement in South Africa, which operates one integrated plant and two grinding units. This follows the sale of its Egypt-based assets in January 2023 to an unnamed buyer.

PPC, the country’s largest cement producer, is staying put. However, it issued a mixed trading update this week ahead of the formal release of its annual results to 31 March 2023. Trading conditions in the interior of South Africa and Botswana were described as being ‘difficult,’ with cement sales volumes down by nearly 6% year-on-year and earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) down by 26%. Yet the group says it was able to grow its revenue. PPC’s CEO Roland van Wijnen added, “We therefore remain hopeful that the South African government will roll out its infrastructure development plans and protect the local cement market through the introduction of import tariffs to create a level playing field for domestic producers.” Dangote Cement subsidiary Sephaku Cement was more circumspect in its recent trading update but it too warned that, “deteriorating economic conditions and persistent challenges in the cement industry impacted Sephaku Cement’s financial performance to break-even levels.”

Much of the above makes for gloomy reading. As the local trade association Cement and Concrete South Africa (CCSA) has laid out to local media, the market faces the problem of having 20Mt/yr of production capacity, 12Mt/yr of demand and over 1Mt/yr of imports compounding the problem. Lobbying by local producers against imports has been a feature of the market since the early 2010s and this work continues through the efforts of the CCSA and others. However, the plea by PPC for government infrastructure spending suggests that the market faces more systemic problems. As a consequence some cement producers are trying to leave the market, while others are attempting to tough it out.

Belgium: Cembureau, the European Cement Association, has elected Ken McKnight as its president and Jon Morrish as vice-president. McKnight, a member of the CRH executive committee, succeeds Isidoro Miranda in the role. Morrish is the chief executive officer for Western & Southern Europe of Heidelberg Materials.

Germany: Schenck Process has appointed Jörg Ulrich as the chief executive officer (CEO) of its Schenck Process EMEA and Asia subsidiary. He succeeds Christoph Haar, who is leaving the company. Ulrich previously held the position of CEO at Linde Hydraulics for more than 10 years. He has also worked in the private equity sector most recently as the Chief Transformation Officer at TK Elevator.

The company’s EMEA and Asia division employs more than 1100 people on four continents and focuses on chemical and high-performance materials as well as infrastructure and energy market segments.

UK: British Rema has appointed Tony Goodwin as its Group Managing Director. He holds 30 years of experience in industrial powder processing and handling. He was previously the managing director of Oliver Valves. Prior to this he spent much of his career working for Kemutec and related companies, firstly in engineering roles and then in operations.

British Rema Group comprises three divisions: British Rema Process Equipment; British Rema Processing; and British Rema Rotary Engineering. The three companies provide powder processing equipment, contract processing and rotary engineering services to the mineral, chemical and recycling industries.

Germany: Aumund Group will be run by the Aumund Foundation, following the death of its owner Franz-Walter Aumund in February 2023. The Aumund Foundation, created in 2019, was originally set up to promote the group’s philanthropic concerns, particularly on education, vocational training and research.

Alex van Denderen, the chief financial officer of Aumund Group and Aumund Holding, said “The Aumund Group is led by managing directors who have grown with the company and whose primary focus is on proximity to customers. It pursues the values of quality and reliability which have increasingly become anchored in the Aumund brand over its hundred year history. The Aumund Foundation supports the principle of creating something lasting for others, and is committed to achieving a sustainable future for the next generation.”

The group supplies products and services for conveying, storage, loading and unloading of bulk materials, site service, maintenance, and freight forwarding. It covers process chains in the cement, lime, gypsum, mining, minerals, metallurgy, foundry, power, chemicals, fertiliser and foodstuffs industries, as well as in ports and terminals and alternative fuels. Its subsidiaries include Aumund Fördertechnik, Schade Lagertechnik, Samson Materials Handling, Tilemann Ketten & Komponenten, Aumund Group Field Service and Aumund Logistic.

Ukraine: Buzzi has agreed to sell its business in Ukraine to Ireland-based CRH for US$109m. The assets additionally include Buzzi’s Slovakian ready-mix concrete business. The Ukrainian business is comprised of the 2Mt/yr Volyn cement plant and 1Mt/yr Nikolajev cement plants, as well as ready-mix concrete operations in Kiev, Nikolajev and Odessa.

Italy-based Buzzi retains its operations in Russia, including the 3.6Mt/yr Suchoi Log cement plant in Irkutsk Oblast and the 700,000t/yr Korkino cement plant in Chelyabinsk Oblast.

Saudi Arabia: Hoffmann Green Cement Technologies (HGCT) and property developer Shurfah Holding have signed a letter of intent to conclude a licensing agreement for use of HGCT’s technology by the state-owned construction firm. BusinessWire News has reported that HGCT plans to build four new units to produce its clinker-free alternative cement in Saudi Arabia. Construction will begin in 2024. Shurfah Holding said that the partnership signals progress towards the development of smart cities under the state’s Vision 2030 economic plan.

HGCT co-founders Julien Blanchard and David Hoffmann thanked Shurfah Holding and said that the partnership represents an acceleration in the producer’s international development.

Afghanistan: The government of Afghanistan claims that five new cement plants will imminently commence construction across five Afghan provinces. Acting Mines and Petroleum Minister Shahabuddin Delawar said that plants are planned in Herat, Jawzjan, Kandahar, Logar and Parwan Provinces. When operational, the plants should make Afghanistan self-sufficient in its cement supply.