16 November 2022
Lafarge Cement expects Czech cement shortage to continue into 2023 16 November 2022
Czech Republic: Lafarge Cement says that an on-going national cement shortage due to high operating costs will likely continue into 2023. MACR News has reported that Lafarge Cement chief executive officer Miroslav Kratochvíl said that the producer's Čížkovice cement plant would have suspended deliveries altogether if not for its existing commitments to customers. The company's pre-existing deals for its power supply enabled it to restrict energy costs growth to less than double 2021 levels in November 2022. Fuels, including alternative fuels, and other raw materials, are also at a price high due to shortages.
Lafarge Cement expects Czech construction activity to decline by 5 - 10% year-on-year in 2023. Kratochvíl said "We would welcome a slight drop in demand."
Belarus cement exports to Russia on the rise 16 November 2022
Belarus/Russia: Exports of cement from Belarus to Russia increased by 61% to 0.43Mt in September and October 2022 compared to the same period in 2021. Eurocement has also warned that Russia’s total imports could rise to 2.2Mt in 2022, comprising 1.5Mt from Belarus, according to RIA. The Russia-based cement producer forecast that total imports could rise to 5Mt in 2023, split mainly between imports from Belarus and Iran. Eurocement noted that it had encountered problems with rising imports already in 2022.
PPC’s earnings fall by 12% to US$42m in first half 16 November 2022
South Africa: PPC’s earnings fell by 12% year-on-year to US$42m in the six months to September 2022, excluding its subsidiary in Zimbabwe due to hyperinflation. In South Africa and Botswana the group reported higher sales in coastal regions due to less imports but tougher conditions inland that led to a 2.6% fall in cement sales volumes. Despite this, it raised its revenue through price rises. Its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell by 29% to US$29.9m. Performance was better in Rwanda where its Cimerwa subsidiary increased its sales volumes by 11% and its EBITDA by 63% to US$14.5m. PPC Zimbabwe’s sales volumes declined by 13% due to a planned kiln shutdown in the first quarter and margins were negatively affected by the use of imported clinker primarily from PPC South Africa and increased maintenance costs. However, sales volumes improved in the second quarter. EBITDA fell by 48% to US$8.59m.
Roland van Wijnen, the chief executive officer PPC, said, “The PPC group continues to deliver sound cash generation and deleverage the balance sheet despite difficult trading conditions in its core South African and Botswana cement market, offset by positive trading conditions in its Zimbabwe and Rwanda operations. To maintain volumes in the South African and Botswana cement markets, sales price increases were limited to 5% in the period under review. Key input costs, especially those related to fuel and energy, increased at double-digits in percentage terms.”
Misr Beni Suef increases nine-month sales in 2022 16 November 2022
Egypt: Misr Beni Suef's sales were US$51.1m in the first nine months of 2022, up by 77% year-on-year from US$28.8m. Nonetheless, the producer recorded a loss of US$15.9m, compared to a profit of US$3.4m during the corresponding period of 2021.
TCRK announces carbon capture project with Asia Cement 16 November 2022
South Korea: UK-based TCRK has announced a deal with Asia Cement to use its carbon capture and utilisation (CCU) technology at the cement producer’s plant in Jaechon. The project will see the first commercial deployment of TCRK’s CCUS technology from the first quarter of 2023. It will initially target 30,000t/yr of CO2 equivalent and then ramp up to 120,000t/yr of CO2 equivalent by mid-2024. The second target is intended to help Asia Cement reduce its emissions by 20% required to meet its 2025 decarbonisation plan.
TCRK’s approach will use two processes to utilise capture CO2 from cement production. Its Arago Cement Process uses captured CO2, cement kiln dust and by-pass particles to produce precipitated calcium carbonate, which TCRK uses to produce a product called Arago Cement. The captured CO2 will also be used to grow microalgae in a process called bio-fixation. This method will offer 10% extra carbon storage capacity. The microalgae has a wide range of potential end-products including bioplastics and animal feed, and can also be used as a source of bio-cement production.
Dalmia Cement (Bharat) to receive renewable energy from new Tirunelveli solar power plant 16 November 2022
India: Dalmia Cement (Bharat) is among buyers which will receive a supply of renewable energy from Sunsure Energy's new 74MW Tirunelveli open access solar power plant in Tamil Nadu. Press Trust of India News has reported that the solar power provider built the plant in three phases, with the first commencing in January 2022.
Project head Tarunveer Singh said "This is our largest single-site installation and one of the largest open access projects in the renewable energy-rich state of Tamil Nadu. Credit goes to our on-site team for completing this project in time, despite execution challenges posed by the weather and the daunting supply chain constraints plaguing the solar sector."
Sunsure Energy commands 250MW of solar power across 16 Indian states.
Dalmia Cement (Bharat) wins CAP Climate Orientated award 16 November 2022
India: Dalmia Cement (Bharat) has won the Climate Orientated award at the Confederation of India Industry (CII)'s Third Climate Action Programme Awards. The awards aim to help companies to prepare scenario analyses, implement climate-related financial disclosures recommendations and calculate internal carbon pricing. This marks the second time that the producer has prevailed in the category. Dalmia Cement (Bharat)'s efforts along these lines include promoting and incorporating its own ‘Waste to Prosperity’ philosophy, through which it engages with waste generators, policy makers and stakeholders. Industrial waste streams constituted 40% of raw materials used in the company's cement production during the second quarter of the 2023 financial year. Municipal solid waste (MSW) provided 18% of heat in its kilns. Its CO2 emissions per tonne of cement during the quarter were 467kg/t.
US: Lehigh Hanson plans to stop cement production at its integrated Permanente plant near Cupertino in California. The subsidiary of Germany-based Heidelberg Materials plans to use the site as a distribution centre and to continue some quarry work, according to the Mercury News newspaper. The cement plant was originally opened in 1939 but it stopped clinker production in 2020.
Titan America's Pennsuco quarry wins Sentinels of Safety award 16 November 2022
US: The National Mining Association has named Titan America's Pennsuco, Florida, quarry as winner of its Sentinels of Safety 2022 large quarry safety award. The quarry operated for 432,000 man hours without a single lost time incident during 2021.
Titan America's senior vice president Walter Reed said "The team at our Pennsuco Quarry demonstrates yet again that a fully embraced and entrenched safety culture will inevitably form the foundation for a long-term successful, sustainable, and extremely productive operation."
The 2022 award is the Pennsuco's second consecutive and eighth overall Sentinels of Safety win.
UNACEM updates branding for 10th anniversary 16 November 2022
Peru: UNACEM (Unión Andina de Cementos) has updated its branding, including its logo, for its 10th anniversary following the merger of Cemento Andino and Cementos Lima. The new logo is intended to convey its essence, origin and its commitment to union and sustainable construction, according to the Ojo newspaper. It is based around the letter ‘U’ and is also meant to be reminiscent of a quarry seen from above. The rebranding exercise is also being run at the same time as the company’s 'Co-building Peru' campaign, where it seeks to promote the message that, “...the infrastructure of a country is built with cement, a homeland is built by all of us, working together.”