August 2025

Malaysia: Malayan Cement recorded sales of US$192m during the third quarter of 2022, more than triple its third-quarter 2021 sales of US$63.6m. The company recorded a US$213,000 profit, compared to a US$5.29m loss in the corresponding quarter of 2021.

UK: C-Capture won an IChemE Global Award in the Energy category for its solvent-based carbon capture system. C-Capture's model differs fundamentally from currently commercially available systems, offering a lower energy penalty than technologies including amine-based capture. It is robust in handling impurities in flue gases, including O₂, SO_x and NO_x, while offering competitive cost and safety performance.

CEO Tom White said “Being shortlisted was honour enough, but to win the global Energy award is fantastic recognition for the C-Capture team and our unique carbon capture technology. The IChemE Global Awards represent the pinnacle of excellence in chemical process engineering. This achievement is testament to our exceptional team and their commitment to accelerating the global adoption of carbon capture and storage to achieve net zero by preventing greenhouse gases from entering the atmosphere.”

South Korea: A nationwide truck drivers strike caused 200,000t of cement to remain undelivered from plants on its first day on 24 November 2022, according to the Korean Cement Association. Yonhap English News has reported that the disruption continued unchanged on 25 November 2022.

France: Authorities have granted construction and environmental clearances to N + P Group to set up its planned Isbergues Subcoal solid recovered fuel (SRF) plant in Hauts-de-France. When commissioned in 2024, the 150,000t/yr-capacity plant will be France's first to commercially produce the coal alternative for cement and other industries. The company says that its products will be able to eliminate 100,000t/yr of industrial CO₂ emissions nationally. N + P Group will use locally sourced waste at the unit.

Chief development officer Lars Jennissen said “Obtaining the environmental and construction permit is a major achievement for us, and we thank our colleagues and partners for their hard work in realising this important milestone. The new location will contribute to the circular economy in Hauts-de-France by converting regional non-recyclable wastes into new resources for regional customers, and it offers a massive potential CO₂ savings for the French market.”

Egypt: Arabian Cement Company more than doubled its sales year-on-year to US$139m during the first nine months of 2022. As a result, the company recorded a net profit of US$10.7m during the period, compared to a US$946,000 loss in the corresponding period in 2021.

Philippines: Vietnam Cement Industry Corporation (Vicem) has awarded a three-year, 6Mt cement and clinker import contract to Fenix (CEZA) International and Gold Falcon Trading Corp. The agreement will have effect from 2023 until 2025. ‎Việt Nam News has reported that Vietnam's Minister of Construction, Nguyen Thanh Nghi, and National Assembly chair, Vuong Dinh Hue, attended the contract's signing in Manila.

Declining demand, primarily from China, has diminished Vietnam's cement exports over past months. Vietnam produced 130Mt of cement in 2021, but consumed just 65Mt.

Ghana: A court has issued an injunction for Empire Cement to desist from operating its unlicensed McCarthy Hills cement facility. Ghana News Agency has reported that the China-based producer's activities at the site present a health hazard to local people. The McCarthy Hills Residents' Association said that the company was established to be exclusively a producer of paper bags for cement products.

Belarus: The government has extended Belarusian Cement Company's exemption from paying customs duties and value added tax (VAT) on its goods imports until 31 December 2023. PrimePress News has reported that the cement producer had previously been exempt from payments up until 30 September 2022.

South Korea: Truck drivers went on strike across South Korea on 24 November 2022. Reuters News has reported that the drivers demand that a government pay scheme be made permanent and extended to drivers in all sectors. A previous eight-day strike in June 2022 cost the South Korean cement industry US$79.8m. The Korean Cement Association said that most customers do not have cement in inventory beyond three days' supply, and will begin to run out from 27 November 2022.

CRH released its third quarter trading statement this week and the results were rosy, especially when compared to its peers in the cement business. Double digit growth in both sales revenue and earnings was reported for the nine month period so far in 2022. The company’s figures mainly attributed this to growth in its Americas Materials and Building Products divisions, although the presentation in its trading update took care to point out that the Europe Materials division had reported growth in the first half of 2022 only for it to run into a slowdown in the third quarter as energy prices increased. Even this wasn’t as bad on a like-for-like basis, with only earnings down in the third quarter in Europe. Chief executive officer Albert Manifold summed it up as follows: “This performance reflects the resilience of our business and the benefits of our integrated and sustainable solutions strategy.”

Manifold’s focus on integrated products was unsurprising given that the group has spent US$3bn in the year to date on businesses that make these kinds of things. These acquisitions have been added to its Building Products division adding to its already strong growth so far in 2022. The big one was the US$1.9bn deal to buy Barrette Outdoor Living, a US-based retailer and distributor of residential fencing and railing products. This was completed in July 2022. Other so-called bolt-on investments in 2022 have reached a total of US$1.1bn for 20 companies including Calstone, Hinkle, Rinker and Normandy in outdoor living, road and critical utility infrastructure sectors.

At the same time the group divested its architectural glass Building Envelope business for an enterprise value of US$3.8bn to private equity company KPS Capital Partners. That deal was completed in May 2022. On a smaller scale, it is also worth noting that Thomas Gruppe announced in early November 2022 that it had signed a purchase agreement to buy Opterra Zement and Opterra Beton. This includes the integrated Karsdorf cement plant, the decommissioned Sötenich grinding plant and the Neufahrn ready-mix concrete plant. However, there was no mention by Thomas Gruppe of the integrated Wössingen plant operated by Opterra Wössingen. Neither Opterra or CRH appears to have commented on this publicly yet though.

How CRH tweaks its business portfolio is interesting in comparison to the other cement companies. As Global Cement Magazine has covered recently, Holcim is bulking up a fourth business in light building materials and Cemex, Heidelberg Materials and others are similarly diversifying away from cement production to various degrees. CRH has generally held a more mixed portfolio away from the heavy materials trio of cement-concrete-aggregates over the last decade. However, it concentrated more on heavy materials when it picked up assets divested in the merger of Lafarge and Holcim in 2015. Since then it has been steadily pulling out of developing markets and focusing on North America and Europe. So, to see CRH moving out of the building envelope sector at the same time as Holcim and others dive in is a clear difference in approach.

The other point to highlight is that Manifold links sustainability to the group’s integrated products plan in his quote above. Earlier in 2022 the company revealed a new 25% reduction target in absolute CO₂ emissions by 2030, that has been certified by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), and a continued goal of becoming net-zero by 2050. It clearly takes sustainability seriously as Manifold was also previously the president of the Global Cement and Concrete Association when it was set up in 2018. Other indicators include the company’s use of an internal carbon price as indicated in its 2021 sustainability report. It also mentioned here that 43% of its direct CO₂ emissions were covered under an emissions trading scheme. One implication here is that focusing on doing business in developed markets means that the group has to take its CO₂ emissions seriously, as legislators in these places do too.

CRH is one of the largest building materials companies in the world and its cement business has grown and shrunk a little over the last decade. Despite this it remains in the top 10 of cement producers globally based on production capacity. Its purview of multiple markets in building materials continues to make it a company to watch as the more traditional heavy materials cement companies adjust their own product portfolios.