07 September 2022

Brazil: Holcim has closed the sale of its business in Brazil to Companhia Siderúrgica Nacional (CSN) for an enterprise value of US$1.025bn. The deal was closed following approvals from the Brazilian authorities. This transaction includes Holcim’s five integrated cement plants, four grinding units, six aggregates sites and 19 ready-mix concrete facilities.

Holcim said that Latin America remains a core strategic growth region for the group. In the first half of 2022 it completed a new cement production line in El Salvador and significantly expanded its aggregates operations in El Salvador, Ecuador and Colombia. The company also continued to expand its Disensa retail network across the region with over 2000 stores now open across eight countries.

Kyrgyzstan: A new cement plant project has been announced for Kyrgyzstan’s Chuy region. The country’s Ministry of Economy and Commerce said that a signing ceremony for an Investment Agreement to implement the project was held between the Cabinet of Ministers of Kyrgyzstan and a consortium comprising representatives from Terek-Tash and ZENIT on 6 September 2022. When built, the plant will have a capacity of 1.5Mt/yr with a total investment cost of around US$150m.

Philippines: Republic Cement has announced that it has become plastic neutral, thanks to the continued efforts of its Ecoloop subsidiary. By collecting and co-processing the equivalent volume of residual plastic waste as it has used in the packaging and transport of its cement products, Republic Cement was able to offset its plastic packaging footprint for 2020, 2021 and so far in 2022. This is equivalent to over 890 dump trucks filled with plastic waste. Ecoloop has already helped a number of other companies to reach plastic neutrality.

Pakistan: Cement sales fell by 24% year-on-year in Pakistan in August 2022, due to increased energy, fuel and transport costs. Total despatches for the month came to 3.3Mt, against 4.3Mt a year earlier, according to data from the All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association (APCMA). Local shipments for August 2022 came to 2.9Mt against 3.8Mt in August 2021, a fall of 24%. Exports fell by 26% to 0.39Mt from 0.52Mt in August 2021.

APCMA officials are of the view that the government needs to generate a viable policy for the construction industry, keeping in view the huge damage to national infrastructure after unprecedented recent flooding.

Senegal: Data from the National Agency for Statistics and Demography (ANSD) indicates that cement exports fell by 34% month-on-month in June 2022, although local sales rose by 4%. Overall cement production fell by 2% as manufacturers battle the economic impacts of the war in Ukraine.

Saudi Arabia: Riyadh Cement Company’s net profit after Zakat and tax shrank by almost 47% to US$22.6m in the first half of 2022, compared to US$42.7m in the same period in 2021. The firm ascribed the drop earnings to lower sales, with its revenues standing at US$68.8m in the first six months of 2022, compared to US$107m in the first six month of 2021, a 36% drop year-on-year.