07 June 2021

US: HeidelbergCement subsidiary Lehigh Cement and Keystone Cement have stepped away from an agreement to merge their businesses. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) voted to challenge the proposed merger in late May 2021.

FTC Bureau of Competition acting director Maribeth Petrizzi said, “This is great news for cement customers in eastern Pennsylvania and western New Jersey. The FTC voted 4-0 to challenge this transaction because it would have reduced the number of significant competitors in the market for grey Portland Cement in this region from four to three. I’m grateful to the bureau’s staff for their tireless efforts throughout this investigation, but also to our partners in the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office, who worked closely with us to ensure that cement customers in this region will continue to benefit from competition between Lehigh and Keystone.”

India: JSW Group has established a new large projects division. The division combines the former large projects division of its subsidiaries JSW Cement and JSW Steel. It will use the group’s new end-to-end sales platform Aikyam, according to United News of India. The integration is expected to create large scale volume opportunities for the steel and cement businesses in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.

Director Parth Jindal said, "JSW Group has the unique advantage of providing an integrated offering to its large customers in the infrastructure and building industries space.” He added "I expect Aikyam to fundamentally change the way JSW works with its large clients, while ensuring that our relationships continue to get stronger through a single group interface, bolstered by strong internal collaboration. In the near future we plan to offer other group products such as paints, construction chemicals, ready-mix concrete and many others to our large institutional customers through the Aikyam interface."

US: Italy-based Buzzi Unicem subsidiary Lone Star Industries has concluded a settlement with the US Department of Justice, the Environmental Protection Agency and the state of Indiana over Clean Air Act violations at its integrated Greencastle plant in Indiana, dating from 2010 to the present day. The Indy Star newspaper has reported that under the terms of the settlement the producer must pay a fine of US$700,000. The authorities ordered the company to upgrade the plant in line with state and federal pollution regulations. The violations involved emissions of particulate matter that exceeded state and federal limits.

EU: The European Commission is reportedly planning to introduce its carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) for cement imports from 2023. Reporting by Bloomberg has revealed that a ‘simplified’ system could be used in a transition period from 2023 with the full mechanism due to start in 2026. Under the new system, cement importers would have to buy certificates at a price linked to the European Union (EU) emissions trading system (ETS). Details on the CBAM and wider environmental plans are due to be made public in mid-July 2021. However, full legal acceptance of the scheme will require approval by the European Parliament and member states.

In a previous response to a report on the CBAM in February 2021, Koen Coppenholle, the head of the European Cement Association (Cembureau), said that a CBAM was a useful tool to address the imports of products not subject to similar carbon constraints in the European Union. He added, “The Environment Committee’s report highlights some key points in this respect, notably that a CBAM should result in EU and non-EU suppliers competing on the same CO2 costs basis; that the scope of CBAM should be wide to avoid market distortions, and that both direct and indirect emissions should be included.”

In May 2021 the EU ETS reached a price of Euro50/t following a significant rise from late 2020 onwards.

India: Dalmia Bharat subsidiary Dalmia Cement (Bharat) has marked World Environment Day with the ceremonial planting of a tree at the Bokaro cement plant in Jharkhand. In Assam, the company planted 6000 Neem, Royal Poinciana and Yellow Poinciana saplings and 4km of bamboo fence around its Alsthom Industries cement plant in Jagiroad.

Dalmia Cement (Bharat) executive director Indrajit Chatterji said, “We at Dalmia Cement have been firm believers in creating a clean and green ecosystem, especially in this pandemic situation across the world. With this tree plantation drive, we would humbly like to make a contribution towards the nature. I would urge all, to come forward and join hands to do our bit towards enabling a greener environment not only for us, but for the future generations to come. We, as a responsible corporate citizen, will always come forward to do whatever we can for the society at large.”