August 2025

Mexico: Cemex has reported that its sales in the first quarter of 2021 came to US$3.41bn, a 9% rise year-on-year compared to the first quarter of 2020. Its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) improved by 28% to US$684m due to a boost in cement sales volumes and higher prices. Its net income for the first quarter was US$665m.

Cemex’s net sales in Mexico increased by 19% to US$822m, while operating cash flow increased 27% to US$299m. Its US operations reported net sales of US$1.0bn, an increase of 5% compared to the same period in 2020. Its operating cash flow in the US increased by 21% to US$196m.

In the group’s Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia region, sales grew by 2% reaching US$1.09bn, while EBITDA was US$113m, 3% higher year-on-year. In Central, South America and the Caribbean, Cemex’s net sales came to US$424m, an increase of 15% compared to the same period in 2020.

Commenting on the results, Cemex’s chief executive officer Fernando González Olivieri said, "We achieved some important objectives and made significant progress towards our Operation Resilience goals, despite the persistent challenges that Covid has caused in many markets. The performance during the first quarter convinces me that we must be entering a period of sustainable growth for our main markets and it is likely that we will achieve two of our Operation Resilience goals well in advance of the 2023.

India: Ambuja Cement, part of LafargeHolcim, reported a 71% jump year-on-year in its consolidated net profit to US$127.9m during the first quarter of 2021, compared to a profit of US$74.8m in the same period of 2020. Managing Director Neeraj Akhoury said, "Indian demand growth has been strong in the last quarter, which has also helped the sales volume growth and commercial performance.”
Akhoury added that, despite strong and continuing headwinds with regards to input prices, including coal, petcoke and diesel, the company had made significant progress on efficiency improvement, which had a positive impact on cost evolution.

Pakistan: Lucky Cement has reported a 303% increase year-on-year in its unconsolidated profit after tax (PAT) in the first nine months of the 2021 Pakistan fiscal year, a reporting period that ran from 1 July 2020 to 31 March 2021. Its PAT for the period was US$72.6m, compared to just US$18.9m in the same period of the prior fiscal year. Lucky Cement’s net sales for the nine month period came to US$306m compared to US$208m a year earlier. Its net sales for the January-March 2021 quarter increased to US$111m form US$71.6m in the same period of 2020.

Philippines: Republic Cement has said that it expects the cement sector in the Philippines to grow strongly in 2021 following a 10% decline in demand in 2020. Speaking to local press, the company’s president and chief executive officer Nabil Francis said that the drop in demand in 2020 was actually less severe than the expected 15%. He added, “We strongly believe that we will get back to 2019 level in 2021. That means 12% growth compared to 2020.” Francis added that the industry is expected to sell 35Mt of cement during 2021. The main driver is the bagged cement segment, with infrastructure and the non-residential, likely to grow less rapidly.

Francis additionally said that he welcomed the Department of Trade and Industry’s investigation into alleged dumping of cement into the Philippines from Vietnam. He said that the imported cement is sold at very low prices, its production having been subsidised by the Vietnamese government. He said the influx of imported cement has injured the local industry.

Brazil: CSN’s Cement Director Edvaldo Rabelo has said his company is ‘attentive to opportunities’ in a call with analysts that discussed LafargeHolcim’s rumoured exit from the Brazilian cement market, according to Reuters. Rabelo said that the move had been expected, while CSN’s chief executive officer Benjamin Steinbruch reportedly added that the company was interested in ‘potential merger and acquisition activity’ in its cement business.

Spain: Cementos Molins has reported its third consecutive quarter with a rising profit, having made Euro33m in the first quarter of 2021, some 39% higher year-on-year than in the same period of 2020. Its revenues came to Euro223m, an increase of 16%.

The quarterly performance of revenues was similar to that of the fourth quarter of 2020, with strong activity in all markets except for Spain. Cementos Molins’ earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) for the first quarter came to Euro62m, 30% higher than the same period in 2020. It said that this was achieved due to the positive contributions of the higher cement sales volumes, rising sales prices and the results of efficiency plans that off-set increases in energy costs.

Russia: Cemix, a subsidiary of the Austrian firm Lasselsberger, is preparing to open its new white cement plant to open in Abzelilovsky District of the Republic of Bashkortostan, Volga. The first batch of cement will be manufactured in May 2021, with the plant expected to be fully commissioned in August 2021. The design capacity is 700t/day of cement, with plans to increase to 1000t/day in the future, depending on demand.

Kenya: Athi River Mining (ARM) Cement is preparing for liquidation and delisting from the Nairobi exchange following the failure of its administrators to revive operations. The East African newspaper has reported that PricewaterhouseCoopers advised liquidation in a letter of 19 April 2021. The joint administrators reached their conclusion based on the understanding the producer will not otherwise be able to settle in full with its creditors. The company plans to liquidate on 30 September 2021.

ARM Cement went into administration in August 2018 following a default on a loan. Its operations in Kenya were sold to National Cement in October 2019. China-based Huaxin Cement acquired its Tanzanian subsidiary Maweni Limestone in May 2020. In 2019 ARM Cement’s administrators fought an attempt by minority shareholders to buy out its majority stake in South Africa-based Mafeking Cement. In January 2021 the administrators received approval from the Rwanda Development Board’s Registrar-General to commence the liquidation of Kigali Cement.

Thailand: Siam Cement Group’s first-quarter consolidated net revenue was US$3.91bn, up by 15% year-on-year from US$3.39bn. Its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose by 68% year-on-year to US$758m from US$452m. Net profit more than doubled to US$478m from US$223m. It attributed the profit growth to its cement and chemical businesses.

The group’s cement and building materials segment recorded an EBITDA of US$211m, down by 2% from US$216m. Its revenue remained stable. Demand for cement in Thailand grew by 3% in the quarter.

Turkey: The Turkish competition authority Rekabat Kurumu has launched a probe into alleged collusion by nine cement producers. The authority said that it is investigating AS Çimento, Bastas Baskent Çimento, Çimsa, Golas Goller Bolgesi Çimento, Konya Çimento, Kupeliler Endustri, Limak Çimento, Oyak Çimento and Brazil-based Votorantim Cimentos.