20 July 2022

India: Ambuja Cements' sales were US$495m in the first quarter of its 2023 financial year, up by 18% year-on-year from first-quarter 2022 financial year levels. Its net profit rose by 45% to US$131m from US$90.4m.The company said that it experienced rising fuel prices and related inflationary impacts during the quarter. It mitigated their impacts through the improved efficiencies delivered under its I Can operating strategy. Meanwhile, its master supply agreement with ACC also helped to restrict growth in transport costs.

Holcim India chief executive officer (CEO) and Ambuja Cements managing director and CEO Neeraj Akhoury said "Ambuja has recorded robust volume growth of 15% and top line growth of 18%. Ambuja Kawach, our green cement, demonstrated a sales growth of 22% year on year."

El Salvador: Holcim El Salvador has officially inaugurated an upgrade to its Maya cement plant. The company has invested US$11.6m towards increasing clinker production capacity by 0.45Mt/yr at the unit. Total cement production capacity of the plant has increased to 1.9Mt/yr from 1.2Mt/yr previously. The Maya cement plant previously reduced production levels significantly in 2008 in response to the global financial crisis at the same time. Oliver Osswald, Region Head of Holcim LATAM, attended the inauguration. The event was also used to launch Holcim’s new corporate branding in the region.

US: Lehigh Hanson’s Lehigh Cement plant in Union Bridge, Maryland plans to fully switch from Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) to Portland limestone cement (PLC) production by January 2023. It will manufacture its EcoCemPLC product. The company says that the Union Bridge plant is currently the company’s largest cement plant in North America.

The decision to move to PLC follows similar changes at the company’s Mason City plant in Iowa and three cement plants in Indiana. Lehigh Hanson produced over 2Mt of PLC in 2021 and it says it is set to double this figure in 2022.

US: Dome Technology has commissioned a 169,000t dome at Lehigh Cement's Mitchell cement plant in Indiana. The dome is equipped with three reclaim tunnels, enabling 83% live reclaim.

Dome Technology sales manager Lane Robertssaid “It’s a colossal project. It’s one of our bigger domes as far as storage capacity goes."

UK: Cemex UK has commissioned a new 25kg plasticcement bag packing line at its Rugby cement plant in Warwickshire. The line will operate alongside an existing paper bagging line.

Cemex UK's packed cement sales manager Graeme Barton said “The packaging of our products is under routine scrutiny to meet customer demand and reduce waste. We have listened to what our merchants and customers need, and by investing in higher, more reliable capacity, Cemex can now meet the demand from the market in peak months with greater confidence. In turn, our stockists can meet their customers’ requirements by supplying what they need, in a format that works better for them. Our merchants and end-users are already seeing the immediate benefits of the new packaging by reporting fewer breakages in branch and onsite – which helps to cut down on waste."

India: Grasim Industries plans to establish a building materials sales platform with a total investment of US$250m over the five-year period to 2027. The Business Standard newspaper has reported that the new platform offers clear adjacencies with the cement and building materials producer's existing businesses and associate companies.

Parent company Aditya Birla's chair Kumar Mangalam Birla said "The building materials segment presents a huge scalable business opportunity with a proven path to profitability. With this foray, Grasim will be able to leverage the large business-to-business ecosystem within the Aditya Birla Group."

India: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Yeduguri Sandinti Jagan Mohan Reddy has laid the foundation stone for the upcoming Ramayapatnam Port in his state's Nellore district. Phase 1 of the port's construction will cost US$467m and is due to conclude in July 2025. The Hans India newspaper has reported that the new 25Mt/yr-capacity port will ship cement and other goods from four berths. Phase 2 of construction will subsequently increase the number of berths to 15, with a total export capacity of 139Mt/yr.

Brazil: Sales of cement fell by 2.7% year-on-year to 30.8Mt in the first half of 2022 from 31.6Mt in the same period in 2021. Data from the Brazilian National Cement Industry Association (SNIC) shows that domestic sales and exports decreased by 2.7% to 30.6Mt and by 8.5% to 0.19Mt respectively.

Paulo Camillo Penna, president of SNIC said, “Throughout the year, with the successive worsening of the economic environment, high interest rates, inflation and commodity prices added to geopolitical instability, caused by the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, have impacted the economy and the entire Brazilian industrial sector. In view of this scenario, the cement industry's expectation of ensuring the gains obtained from 2019 to 2021 is heading towards an undesirable frustration.”

Peru: Cement production grew by 7% year-on-year to 6.4Mt in the first half of 2022 from 6Mt in the same period in 2020. Data from the Association of Cement Producers (ASOCEM) shows that cement exports rose by 15% to 98,000t and clinker exports fell by 8% to 289,000t. Cement and clinker imports fell by 69% to 150,000t and 40% to 549,000t respectively.