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Stop press! The Portland Cement Association (PCA) has renamed itself as the American Cement Association (ACA).

Speaking to the audience at the IEEE-IAS/PCA Cement Industry Cement Conference taking place this week in Birmingham, Alabama, ACA president Mike Ireland said that the new name better represents its members, from the Atlantic seaboard to the Pacific coast. He added that the old name, the PCA, had caused the association confusion over the years with it being mistaken as only representing Portland, Oregon, or Portland, Maine.

This follows comments from Ireland to Global Cement Magazine in April 2024. At that time he also mentioned how changing levels of production of ordinary Portland cement (OPC) compared to blended cements had suggested a rethink. Surveys were then sent out by the PCA asking people what they thought about in connection to the association and which name suggestions they liked. A year or so later and the new name has arrived. Thankfully the PCA didn’t determine the name by public ballot alone, thereby avoiding the risk of a joke name. Readers wondering about this can remind themselves about the time the UK Natural Environment Research Council ran a website survey asking what a new polar research ship should be called. The vessel was eventually called the RRS Sir David Attenborough rather than the internet’s choice of Boaty McBoatface!

Global Cement Weekly also reflected upon the point Ireland made about the change in the blends of cement being used. The adoption of Portland Limestone Cement (PLC) production in the US contributed to the rise in blended cements shipments. United States Geological Survey (USGS) data shows that shipments of blended cements more than doubled from 26Mt in 2022 to 61Mt in 2024. This compares to shipments of OPC of 41Mt in 2024. This change appears to have been mostly accepted so far, but it is not without its detractors. For example, take this campaign promoting a return to traditional Type I and II cements on ‘performance’ grounds.

As for the US cement market, USGS data shows that shipments of Portland and blended cement fell by about 13% year-on-year to 11.8Mt in the first two months of 2025 from 13.8Mt in the same period in 2024. This was for both domestic shipments and imports. Most of the cement companies that have so far released first quarter financial results for 2025 reported poor weather adversely affecting sales. Holcim noted that sales improved in March 2025. Cemex blamed its lower sales volumes of cement and ready-mixed concrete on the period having one less working day compared to 2024. CRH pointed out in its analysts’ presentation that the first quarter of the year is typically the smallest of the four in terms of sales volumes. The really interesting data may start to emerge in the second and subsequent quarters, as the markets and supply chains start to react to current US trade policy. At the time of writing, widespread tariffs on many countries were announced at the start of April 2025 but then subsequently paused for 90 days.

The American Cement Association has a new name for the 21st Century. The PCA has served it well as a name for over 100 years, but now seems a good time for a change. Whether the future is one of blended cements, carbon capture, a return to OPC or whatever else remains to be seen. Yet the future of construction in the US looks set to involve plenty of cement. There are sure to be challenges along the way. Here’s to the next 100 years.

Australia: Hanson Australia has changed its name to Heidelberg Materials Australia as part of parent company Heidelberg Materials’ global rebranding strategy.

The company started in 1949 when Pioneer was established as a ready-mix concrete producer. It was later acquired by Hanson in 2000 and rebranded as Hanson Australia in 2004. Hanson was subsequently acquired by Heidelberg Materials in 2007. Heidelberg Materials began its global rebranding from Heidelberg Cement in September 2022. Hanson’s subsidiaries Hymix, Pioneer North Queensland, Placecrete, Traino, Alex Fraser and Suncoast Asphalt will continue to operate under their existing brands.

Philippines: Cemex has sold its Philippine cement brands to the Consunji family for US$12.55m. Cemex Holdings Philippines revealed that APO Cement and Solid Cement repurchased the brands from Cemex Innovation Holding in Switzerland. APO Cement, based in Naga, Cebu, acquired the ‘Apo Cement’ brand for US$8.2m, while Solid Cement, located in Antipolo, bought the ‘Rizal’ and ‘Island’ trademarks for US$4.53m. This follows Cemex's strategic withdrawal from the Philippines, completing the sale of Apo Cement and Solid Cement to DMCI Holdings, Dacon and Semirara Mining and Power of the Consunji family for US$305.6m in April 2024.

Cemex announced last week that it will stop producing clinker at its Lloseta plant in Mallorca. Grinding activity at the site will continue, along with the shipment of bagged and bulk cement products. The company has framed the closure as part of its decarbonisation plans. The dismantling of the two preheater towers at the plant is scheduled to take place by the end of 2030. Cemex said that it will take this long to allow the cement plant to continue operating, as well as a neighbouring hydrogen unit and other nearby industrial units. The status of the Lloseta plant has been in question before. It was closed in early 2019 due to reduced cement demand and mounting European CO₂ emissions regulations. However, it reopened in 2021.

Readers may recall that Cemex España participated in the Power to Green Hydrogen Mallorca project. Land by the Lloseta cement plant was used to hold solar panels and a solar-powered hydrogen unit. Other partners in the project included energy suppliers Enagás and Redexis and renewable power and infrastructure company Acciona, among others. When the unit was commissioned in early 2022, it said it was the first solar power-to-green hydrogen plant in Spain. The link between Cemex and hydrogen is noteworthy given the cement company’s adoption of hydrogen injection as part of its alternative fuels strategy. Interestingly, Acciona planned to use a blockchain method to certify that hydrogen produced at the site was made using renewable energy sources. Heidelberg Materials also plans to use the same process to verify its evoZero brand of net-zero cement products in 2025. Another recent sustainability sector news story in Spain is the commissioning by Çimsa of a 7.2MW solar plant supporting its Buñol white cement plant in Valencia. The new installation is expected to supply about 18% of the plant’s energy needs.

On the corporate side of things, FCC revealed in mid-May 2024 that it was preparing to spin-off its cement and real estate subsidiaries into a new company called Inmocemento. The cement part of this is Spain-based Cementos Portland Valderrivas. The move is intended to bolster the values of the different parts of the business. The proposal will be put to FCC’s shareholders in late June 2024, with any resulting action taking place by the end of the year. The decision to separate FCC’s cement assets is reminiscent of the financial engineering Holcim has proposed with its US business. However, in this case the driver does not appear to be the disparity between the European and US stock markets.

Graph 1: Domestic consumption and exports of cement in Spain, 2013 - 2023. Source: Oficemen.

Market data was also out this week from Oficemen, the Spanish cement association. Domestic cement consumption grew year-on-year in April 2024 but the year so far is looking weaker with consumption from January to April 2024 down by 4.5% year-on-year to 4.65Mt. This is below Oficemen’s forecast for 2024 where it expected a stagnant situation. However, there are eight more months to go. In 2023 cement consumption fell by 3% to 14.5Mt and exports declined by 7.5% to 5.2Mt. The association blamed continued underinvestment in both the public and private sectors due to economic instability since the Covid-19 pandemic. Graph 1 above shows the wider situation in the Spanish cement market over the last decade. The share of exports has declined and local consumption rebounded after 2020 but has declined since then.

These news stories provide a snapshot of what’s been happening in Spain recently in the cement sector. Oficemen’s prediction for 2024 is gloomy but local consumption has risen over the past 10 years. Exports have fallen but the cement association has started to spin the country’s decarbonsiation drive as a potential positive for the industry’s competitiveness generally. It’s hard to discern right now but there might be an advantage for an export-focused country that conforms to European standards in the future if it can hold onto its capacity. Admittedly, that’s a big if. This thinking along sustainability lines could be seen earlier in May 2024 when Cementos Molins Group rebranded itself as Molins. It described the rebranding as a bid to represent the wider range of construction products it manufactures and sells beyond cement. Oficemen has also pointed out that the local market has room for development given the relatively low cement consumption per capita in Spain compared to its peers. So, whatever happens next, there is likely to be room for improvement in the cement market.

Spain: The Mexico-based owner of the Spain-based cement producer FCC, Carlos Slim, is reportedly planning to spin-off its cement and real estate assets into a separate business. The new entity, to be known as Inmocemento, would then be listed on the Madrid stock market, according to Reuters. Slim directly owns around 12% of FCC and controls a further 76% of the company through investment vehicles Inversora Carso and Operadora Inbursa.

Inmocemento would take FCC's cement plants, the majority stake it owns in the real estate developer Realia and a minority stake in Metrovacesa. Current FCC shareholders would receive Inmocemento stakes equivalent to their holdings in FCC.

FCC currently owns assets in different industries such as construction, water and sewage, waste management, cement and real estate. FCC's cement units reported revenues of €614m in 2023, while income from real estate was €254m. Together, these sectors represented 9% of FCC's revenue. It operates its cement business via the Cementos Portland Valderrivas subsidiary.

FCC said in a financial disclosure that its board believes that the move would boost shareholder value as the new and existing companies are likely to be worth more apart than together.

The Portland Cement Association (PCA) is currently considering changing its name as part of a wider rebranding exercise. As the PCA’s president and CEO Mike Ireland puts it, “Portland cement no longer adequately represents the products PCA member companies manufacture, as they increasingly produce blended cements in today's environmentally conscious marketplace.” The exercise opens up a host of issues about the promotion of cement and concrete and the role of a trade association in the 21st century.

The reason the PCA holds its name is because ordinary Portland cement (OPC) became the most popular type of cement used to make concrete (and other building materials) in the second half of the 19th century. This continued in the 20th century without any issues. So naming a national cement association after the sector’s key product made sense at the time. The parent organisation that became the PCA was formed in 1902 and the PCA proper officially started in 1916 when cement producers met in Chicago and agreed to set up an expanded organisation.

One topic that was less of an issue in 1916, was considering a national cement association in an international context. Or in other words, should a national or regional cement association say where it is from in its name? Many associations do so elsewhere in the world but not all. Cembureau in Europe, the Cement Manufacturers’ Association in India and the Mineral Products Association in the UK for instance are three examples that do not. The PCA’s current name does not indicate where it is based and it has appeared to have coped for over 100 years. Curiously though, most of the suggestions that the PCA has put forward for its potential new name do include ‘America’ in some shape or form. Another connected problem is whether the general public in the US make the assumption that the PCA is a smaller group based in Portland, Oregon!

Mike Ireland points out another dilemma facing the PCA today with the rise in popularity of blended cements. The PCA, for example, worked on supporting the use of Portland Limestone Cement in the 2010s before lots of US producers started making it in the 2020s. To illustrate the scale of the change that this and other initiatives have created, United States Geological Survey (USGS) data shows that shipments of blended cements doubled from 26Mt in 2022 to just under 55Mt 2023. At the same time, shipments of Portland Cement fell by 37% year-on-year to around 52Mt from 83Mt. More blended cements were shipped in the US than OPC in 2023. So the PCA finds itself named after a minority cement product.

The other issue that Ireland touches upon is the environmental perception of cement by the general public and the problems for marketing, branding and advocacy this presents to a trade association. Simply put, it is far easier for the environmental lobby in developed economies to portray cement as ‘bad’ than it is for the cement sector to publicise the many small but incremental changes it has made or the monumental effect that cement and concrete have made upon human society over the last 150 years. Although it may not mean much to the wider public, to whom ‘cement is cement,’ the rise of blended cements in the US has handed the PCA the opportunity to differentiate cement into ‘good’ and ‘bad’ offerings. In this case high CO₂ emitting OPC becomes the old dirty product of the past and blended cements become clean shiny symbols of the future. It follows, therefore, that retaining the name of an old product for one of the biggest cement associations in the world might be considered unhelpful.

In some respects OPC and the PCA have become victims of their own success. Cement built the modern world and has become ubiquitous. So commonplace in most countries, in fact, that people outside of the building industry often fail to realise how crucial the stuff is. The tricky proposition for those marketing cement today is to somehow recognise the historical contribution that it has made to build our world whilst also conveying how it is changing to become more sustainable. Unfortunately for fans of OPC though this may mean dumping it from the name of the PCA.

Greece: Titan has launched a new, refreshed logo and branding to symbolise its commitment to sustainability and green growth. The logo features the familiar blue globe of the former Titan Cement Group emblem, now interspersed with bright green lines. The producer says that the new branding preserves its heritage, while signalling the modernity of its dynamic, forward-looking strategy. Titan’s new slogan, accompanying the visual identity, is ‘Building a better world together.’

Titan serves 25 markets, complementing its regular operations with over 100 current decarbonisation initiatives.

India: Dalmia Cement has launched new branding identifying itself as a Roof Column Foundation Expert. The identity is accompanied by the slogan ‘Roof, column, foundation strong, home strong.’ The company says that the branding will help it to position its cement as first choice in business-to-consumer (B2C) building materials retailing. The campaign especially targets towns of 20,000 – 100,000 people, outside of India’s metropolitan centres. The producer aims to raise its B2C sales from 65% to 70% in the 2025 financial year. It now operates a 45,000-strong retail network. In order to support further growth in the segment, the company plans to deploy 600 technical staff and 150 vans across India.

Chief operating officer Sameer Nagpal said “We believe that the brand must play a vital role in consumer’s lives so that they can make informed choices. Dalmia Cement has over the years developed proprietary know-how of optimising cement recipes that makes it most suitable for roof, column and foundation.”

Managing director and CEO Shri Puneet Dalmia said “Our new brand campaign manifests not just an eminent legacy, but also a commitment to consumer centricity – it conveys a core message that building a home with due care means building it for generations to come.”

India: Sanghi Industries has received shareholder approval to supply its cement and clinker to ACC and Ambuja Cements. Additionally, Sanghi Industries will begin to purchase of coal from fellow Adani Group subsidiary Adani Enterprises, according to the Economic Times newspaper. Under the new arrangements, ACC and Ambuja Cements will sell Sanghi Industries’ cement and clinker under their own brands, at a price 10% above production cost. This is reportedly below industry pricing standards for comparable deals of 25 - 30% higher pricing over costs.

Adani Group subsidiary Ambuja Cements acquired a 57% stake in Sanghi Industries on 5 December 2023.

Germany: Heidelberg Materials has launched EvoBuild, a new brand for its range of low-carbon and circular products. It intends to apply globally consistent criteria and tiering for its sustainable products and aims to set new standards for decarbonised products. All countries in which the company is present will gradually integrate their sustainable products into the EvoBuild portfolio.

Dominik von Achten, chair of the managing board of Heidelberg Materials, said “After rolling out our new corporate brand Heidelberg Materials in more than 20 countries, harmonising our strong sustainable product portfolio on a global level is the next logical and important step.” He continued, “We recently introduced our EvoZero brand for the world’s first carbon captured net-zero cement. Now, we are adding EvoBuild to the Evo brand family with a new framework for all products that are characterised by their special contribution to carbon reduction and circularity. This also reflects the strong focus of our business activities on sustainable solutions for our customers.” Nicola Kimm, the chief sustainability officer at Heidelberg Materials added that creating the brand was, “an important step towards achieving one of our key targets on the way to net zero as we aim to generate 50% of our revenue with sustainable products by 2030.”

Products in the EvoBuild range will be available in all business lines and are either low-carbon (cement and concrete), circular (concrete) or feature a combination of both attributes. Low-carbon products must provide a CO₂ reduction of at least 30% compared to the reference value. Circular products must contain at least 30% recycled aggregates, or they must reduce material requirements by at least 30%.