Egypt: Arabian Cement Company (ACC) has signed a €25m loan agreement with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). The loan will be used to assist the company’s decarbonisation efforts. It will finance the company’s alternative fuel capacity expansion and automation of its facilities. The company will also acquire and install a hydrogen injection system at its Ain Sokhna cement plant. This will reduce CO₂ emissions by 130,000t/yr.

CEO of Arabian Cement, Sergio Alcantarilla, said "This agreement with EBRD is a key milestone in ACC's sustainability journey, supporting our transition to cleaner technologies. The integration of the hydrogen injection at our Ain Sokhna plant will enhance operational efficiency and significantly reduce our carbon footprint."

Alpacem said this week that it had completed its acquisition of the Fanna cement plant near Pordenone. The 0.66Mt/yr integrated plant and a number of ready-mixed concrete plants became part of the Austria-headquartered group at the start of February 2025. Alpacem now has three integrated plants, with units at Wietersdorf in Austria and Anhovo in Slovenia, in addition to Fanna.

The deal dates back to mid-2023 when Alpacem said it had signed an agreement with Buzzi. In return Buzzi was set to receive a 25% stake in Alpacem Zement Austria. Prior to this the two companies had a strategic partnership in Austria and Slovenia that dated back to 2014. At the time of the agreement Buzzi held a 25% share in each of two Alpacem subsidiaries: Salonit Anhovo in Slovenia; and W&P Cementi in Italy. The Fanna plant was originally owned by Cementizillo before it was bought by Buzzi in 2018.

Also this week, Federbeton warned that the high cost of gas would add €80m/yr to the cost of cement production. Nicola Zampella, General Manager of Federbeton and the cement association AITEC, noted that local energy costs would reduce the competitiveness of producers against imports from outside of the European Union (EU). This ties into comments Stefano Gallini, the president of Federbeton, made in December 2024 when he highlighted the growing share of imports from outside the EU.

Federbeton raised the issue in its annual report for 2023, showing that imports rose to a 19% production share in 2023. Italy produced 18.8Mt of and imported 3.6Mt of cement and clinker in 2023. This is its highest level of imports for at least a decade. Over the same period the country’s cement exports, as a share of production, have remained steady at around 10 - 11%. In 2023 Türkiye was the biggest source of imports (25%) followed by Greece (17%), Slovenia (17%), Tunisia (12%) and Algeria (10%).

Graph 1: Cement production, imports and exports in Italy, 2019 - 2023. Source: Federbeton.

It is worth recalling that the cement sector in Italy used to be larger before it started consolidating in the late 2000s. Italcementi was acquired by Germany-based Heidelberg Materials. Operations by Sacci, Cementir and Cemenzillo were all bought out too. Local cement production reached a high of 47.9Mt in 2006 before it stabilised at around 20Mt/yr from 2015 onwards.

In its preliminary results for 2024, out this week too, Buzzi reported that the construction market In Italy probably shrank in 2024 due to a poor residential housing market. However, the cement company managed to keep its local net sales stable by raising prices and focusing on exports. Despite this, it noted a drop in cement and concrete sales volumes at the end of 2024. More data on the construction market in Italy may emerge when Heidelberg Materials releases its 2024 financial results at the end of February 2025.

The backdrop to this has been a rise in gas prices in Europe towards the end of 2024 as the EU ‘emergency’ price cap finished on 31 January 2025. Around the same time the EU is preparing to reveal information on its Clean Industry Deal towards the end of February 2025. Plus, the first active phase of EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) is preparing to enter into force from the start of 2026. Each of these issues has implications for the cement sector in Italy as the location associations have been highlighting. One question will be whether the Clean Industry Deal can help producers cope with mounting energy prices. Another will be whether CBAM will change the proportion of imports for countries like Italy or will the sources of the imports simply change. Plenty to consider for the year ahead.

US: Ed Sullivan has resigned as the Chief Economist and Senior Vice President at the Portland Cement Association (PCA) with effect from 1 March 2025.

Sullivan holds over 40 years’ experience in industrial economic analysis. He has been in post at the PCA since 2002 where he led a team of economists delivering market research. Prior positions include vice president roles at Chase Manhattan Bank Economics, Standard & Poor’s and Wharton Economics. He also spent a period working as a senior intelligence officer at the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and as an economist within the Office of Senator Edward Kennedy. He has taught economics at St. Joseph’s and Villanova Universities in Philadelphia, Fairfield University in Connecticut, as well as Columbia and Fordham Universities in New York City.

Spain: Ciment Català, the Catalan Cement Manufacturers Association, has appointed Albert Avellaneda Bargués as its director. He previously worked as the head of the Best Available Techniques (BAT) section of the General Direction of Climate Change and Environmental Quality as part of the Government of Catalonia. He holds a bachelor's degree in biology from the University of Barcelona and a master’s degree in Environmental Engineering and Management from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia.

UK: Terex Conveying Systems has appointed Neil Robinson as its Business Line Director. He will oversee the management of mobile conveyors offered across all Terex brands, including ProStack and Marco. Robinson has worked for Terex for 18 years, most recently as Product Director for Powerscreen. Robinson originally started working for the company in 2006 as a Design Engineer.

Japan: Taiheiyo Cement recorded net sales of US$4.4bn, up by 3% year-on-year, from 1 April 2024 to December 2024. Sales were US$4.3bn in the corresponding period of 2023.

The company’s financial report stated “During the nine months ended 31 December 2024, the Japanese economy showed a moderate recovery trend, partly due to the effect of various government policies under an improving employment and income situation. However, the outlook remained uncertain due to factors such as the protracted situation in Ukraine and continued yen depreciation.”

It also stated that domestic cement demand was affected by multiple factors, such as a labour shortage, the adoption of a five-day week for the construction industry and a shortage of lightweight aggregates. It reported that demand decreased 6% year-on-year to 25.15Mt, of which imported cement increased 26% year-on-year to 10,000t. Total exports increased by 25% year-on-year to 6.24Mt. The group’s domestic cement sales volume decreased by 5% year-on-year to 9.52Mt, with exports increasing by 22% to 2.4Mt. Its cement businesses in US, Vietnam and the Philippines all also saw a decrease in sales volumes.

Italy: Cementir Holding recorded cement and clinker sales volumes growth of 0.5% year-on-year in 2024, to 10.7Mt. Revenue fell by 0.4% year-on-year to €1.69bn, while earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell by 1% year-on-year to €407m. Profit before tax fell by 2% to €285m. The producer targets an increase in revenue to €2bn and EBITDA to €465m by 2027.

Francesco Caltagirone, chair and CEO, said “2024 has been another satisfactory year for our group, which demonstrated remarkable resilience despite the complex geopolitical and macroeconomic backdrop. We are preparing to face the next three years with a strengthened industrial footprint, thanks to: the upgraded Kiln 4 in Belgium, which will enhance efficiency through increased alternative fuels usage; the second production line in Egypt, now fully operational and able to generate additional export revenue; and the opportunity to completely decarbonise our Aalborg plant by 2030 with a limited investment. We look forward to the challenges ahead with renewed confidence.”

France: Hoffmann Green has reported a revenue of €13.2m in 2024, doubling its revenue from 2023. The sale of cements contributed €2.8m, while entry fees from licensing agreements contributed €10.5m. The producer sold 16,269t of cement in 2024, despite the deterioration of the local market. It signed licensing agreements in the US, UK and Ireland, and expects to reach its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) break-even point in 2024.

Co-founders of Hoffmann Green Cement Technologies, Julien Blanchard and David Hoffmann, said "Despite a stagnant national construction market, Hoffmann Green has achieved a historic 2024 financial year, doubling its revenue, reaching an estimated EBITDA break-even for the first time since the company was founded, and the signing of numerous partnerships, particularly as part of our international development."

Europe: Titan Cement has invested in AI solutions provider Optimitive, to reinforce the use of AI for the optimisation of its plants. The producer aims to continue to improve its productivity and efficiency through this investment. The investment follows Titan Cement's implementation of Optimitive's Optibat software at its plants in order to improve their operational performance, reduce energy consumption and curb CO₂ emissions.

Fernando de la Prida, CEO of Optimitive, said "For Optimitive, the investment by Titan, one of the main players in the cement market, demonstrates the strength of the company, the cutting-edge technology built inside our product and the high level of satisfaction of our customers."

Mexico: Cemex has announced that its CEO, Fernando Gonzalez, will retire after 35 years with the company. The company’s board of directors has appointed Jaime Muguiro, current head of US operations, to succeed him. The changes will be effective on 1 April 2025.