Two stories from the US have drawn our attention this week, even with a US$1.3bn cartel fine in Brazil, more new business in Africa, the possible closure of CBR's white cement plant in Belgium and strange metrological goings-on in India also in the headlines.
Firstly, it was announced that Colombia's major cement producer Cementos Argos has agreed to acquire Vulcan Materials' building material assets in Florida. Argos, active in the US since June 2011 when it acquired its Harleyville and Roberta plants from Lafarge, will more than double its capacity in the country from 2.7Mt/yr to 6.2Mt/yr and go from a small player to a significant force in the western US.
Argos may have moved at just the right time. Despite suffering disproportionately in what is often termed the 'Great Recession' in the US, Florida's cement market is fundamentally solid, with significant residential construction and a good commercial construction baseline. If the PCA's expectations that the US will consume 80Mt/yr of cement in 2014 and a release of that much talked-about 'pent-up demand' are realised, Argos could be in a position to make good sales.
Indeed, Argos' move takes on even more significance in the light of the second US story from this week, which sees Texas Industries (TXI) taken over by Martin Marietta. The acquisition, which comes on the back of a failed bid by Martin Marietta for Vulcan Materials in 2012, also makes perfect sense for the company. Indeed, Martin Marietta's chief executive, C Howard Nye, said, "We like the Texas market a lot."
And well they should. Developments around the Eagle Ford shale gas reserves in the centre of Texas have led to a building boom in terms of both new constructions and oil well cement. Despite this, TXI announced a loss of US$17.6m in the quarter to 30 September 2013, although it saw higher sales. It blamed interest repayments. There are obviously clear gains for Martin Marietta in buying TXI, but it had better have a plan to sort out TXI's finances.
For all the talk of major restructuring in China , and mergers and acquisitions in India, it is the US cement industry that is showing the most movement so far in 2014. Could this be the year when things finally look up?
