Displaying items by tag: Cementos Pacasmayo

Peru: Cementos Pacasmayo’s sales have revived following a coronavirus-related lockdown in the second quarter in 2020. It attributed the rebound to sales of bagged cement to the self-construction sector and public sector reconstruction demand. It also noted that sales revenue and volumes in the second quarter of 2021 were ahead of comparable figures in the same period in 2019 before the pandemic started. Its sales revenue more than doubled to US$229m in the first half of 2021 from US$105m in the same period in 2020. Its consolidated earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) nearly tripled to US$49.4m from US$16.9m. Production volumes at the cement producer’s plants grew to 1.79Mt from 0.79Mt.

Two fairly serious investments in Peru made the industry headlines this week. The first was Yura’s plans to upgrade its Arequipa cement plant at a cost of US$200m. The project will involve increasing the plant’s clinker production capacity as well as installing a new mill and a 4.3km conveyor. The second was the latest instalment in Cementos Interoceanicos’ long held ambition to build a plant. It has struck a deal with France-based Satarem to build a 1Mt/yr plant near Puno. The deal also includes Satarem buying a 30% stake in Cementos Interoceanicos and plans to construct two lime units as well.

Graph 1: Local cement sales in Peru, January 2020 to February 2021 compared to January 2019 to February 2020. Source: ASOCEM.

These projects follow a squeeze for the local industry due to coronavirus-related containment measures. Data from the Association of Cement Producers (ASOCEM) shows that cement sales collapsed during the lockdown to just 11,000t in April 2020 before recovering in the autumn. Total annual local sales fell by 17% year-on-year to 9.7Mt from 11.6Mt. Sales have also remained high in January and February 2021.

The experience from the larger cement producers mirror the data from ASOCEM. Cementos Pacasmayo’s sales revenue fell by 7% year-on-year to US$354m in 2020 and its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell by 21% to US$86.3m. Unión Andina de Cementos’ (UNACEM) income fell by 14% year-on-year to US$467m in 2020. Despite this, UNACEM managed to sign a deal to buy Cementos La Unión Chile for US$23m in December 2020. The purchase consists of a 0.3Mt/yr cement grinding plant and a 0.34Mm³/yr ready-mix concrete business with multiple concrete plants and trucks. UNACEM described Chile as its main clinker export destination and it holds concrete and precast subsidiaries in the country.

Yura’s general manager Ramón Pizá reportedly called his company’s plans a “vote of faith in Peru.” This is not an understatement considering the market shocks caused by coronavirus in 2020. The country implemented public health measures relatively early during the pandemic but still ended up with one of the worst death rates per capita in Latin America so far. As the British Medical Journal (BMJ) pointed out earlier this month, the timing was right but tragically the application of public health measures has been found wanting. Yet, the fundamentals for the Peruvian cement market are strong. Annual sales mounted from 2017 to 2019, and were showing signs of continuing this in early 2020 before the lockdown shut the market down. This growth pattern has continued so far in 2021.

Peru: Cementos Pacasmayo recorded sales of US$354m in 2020, down by 7% year-on-year from US$381m in 2019. Consolidated earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell by 21% to US$86.3m from US$110m. Sales volumes of cement, concrete and precast shipments fell by 1% to 2.58Mt from 2.61Mt. Cement production capacity utilisation was 45%, down by 2% from 47%. In the fourth quarter of 2020 cement dispatches rose by 37% year-on-year.

The company said, “Despite political changes, the economic recovery continued its course during the fourth quarter of 2020. Thanks to the economic relief measures taken by the government and the fast adaptation of the private sector, an important part of the productive capacity was preserved. Public investment in particular has played an important role in the economic recovery, and it is expected to continue to do so during 2021.” It added, “The uncertainty around the end of the Covid-19 pandemic continues, but what is certain is that the world has been forever changed. The capacity to adapt quickly and efficiently in an increasingly digital world is key to success and will prevail long after this pandemic is behind us. We believe that the steps we have taken in that direction have both helped us weather the storm and given us a promising future. We are confident that we are better equipped to face another year that may prove challenging and continue to generate value to our stakeholders.”

The Good Employers Association (ABE) recognised the company in the Leadership category at its ABE Awards 2020.

Peru: Cementos Pacasmayo subsidiary Cementos Selva has begun shipping 2550t/yr of cement produced at its 0.4Mt/yr integrated Rioja, San Matrín plant to the city of Iquitos via the Huallaga, Marañon and Amazon rivers following refurbishment of its Port of Yurimaguas cement terminal. The company said, “The facilities provided by the Port of Yurimaguas with its modern infrastructure and equipment, together with a coordinated logistical operation with the Rioja plant, has made it possible to considerably reduce reception and shipment times, demonstrating that good practices in the jungle are possible,” according to the Diario Gestión newspaper.

Peru: Cementos Pacasmayo recorded a loss of US$13.0m in the six months to the 30 June 2020, compared to a US$9.16m profit in the first half of 2019. The company experienced a 64% drop in sales to US$32.5m from US$91.6m. It said the decline resulted from decreased demand due to the coronavirus lockdown.

Peru: Cementos Pacasmayo has reported a first-quarter profit of US$3.14m in the first quarter of 2020, down by 65% year-on-year from US$7.00m in the same period of 2019. Sales fell by 4.4% year-on-year to US$87.9m, from US$92.0m. Despite having increased by 13% year-on-year in the first two months of 2020, cement, concrete and precast sales volumes fell by 6.0% to US$81.5m from US$86.7m.

Cementos Pacasmayo said that it has suspended all production and sale of its products since 16 March 2020 in response to the national state of emergency due to the coronavirus outbreak. It said, “We are unsure when operations will be allowed to restart.”

Peru: Cementos Pacasmayo’s sales have been boosted by infrastructure work, coastal El Niño reconstruction projects and private projects. Its cement, concrete and precast shipments rose by 10.6% year-on-year to 2.62Mt in 2019 from 2.34Mt in 2018. Its sales grew by 10.3% to US$410m from US$372m. Its consolidated earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) increased by 7.7% to US$118m from U$109m.

Peru: Cementos Pacasmayo recorded a net profit of US$40.2m in the three months to 30 September 2019, up by 20% from 33.4% in 2018’s third quarter. The company has said that structural changes, such as the centralisation of type V production at its Pacasmayo plant, and temporary increases in costs slightly restricted this margin. Net sales likewise increased by 20% year-on-year to US$383m from US$319. July and August 2019 set monthly sales volumes records for the company, driven by increased concrete and prefabricated shipments which it forecasts will continue to grow. This is a positive signal for the realisation of Cementos Pacasmayo’s vision of becoming a construction solutions company by 2030.

UK: The Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA) has launched ‘Innovandi,’ a research network between industry and scientific institutions. The network intends to research the areas of process technology, including the impact of co-processing, efficiency of clinker production and implementation of CCUS/ technologies, and products. This will include the impact of clinker substitutes and alternative binders in concrete, low carbon concrete technology and improve the understanding of CO₂ reduction through re-carbonation.

“Our industry is fully committed to taking action to reduce CO₂ emissions. As such, Innovandi is an industry led initiative and will bring together the best minds from all corners of the cement and concrete world, academia and business. Together we will truly collaborate on a global scale and use our expertise to find new ways of working and developing effective innovations,” said Benjamin Sporton, the chief executive officer (CEO) of the GCCA.

24 companies from the cement and concrete industry, including cement and concrete manufacturers, admixture specialists and equipment suppliers, have committed to the initiative, with scientific institutions and additional companies set to join as its work begins work. These include Buzzi Unicem, Cementir Holding, Cementos Argos, Cementos Molins, Cementos Pacasmayo, Cemento Progresso, Cemex, CNBM, Chryso, CRH, Dalmia Cement, FLSmidth, Grupo Cementos de Chihuahua (GCC), GCP Applied Technologies, Mapei, HeidelbergCement, LafargeHolcim, Nesher Israel Enterprises, SCG Cement, Titan Cement, Refratechnik Cement, Sika Technology, Subote New Materials and Votorantim.

As part of the new initiative, the GCCA also intends to establish an annual Innovandi global conference to promote collaboration on innovation and research in the sector.

Peru: Cementos Pacasmayo’s sales grew by 5.3% year-on-year to US$193m in the first half of 2019 from US$183m in the same period in 2018. Its consolidated earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) increased by 5% to US$57.1m from US$54.5m. Cement production at its three plants rose by 10.6% to 1.2Mt from 1.08Mt. The cement producer attributed the growth in sales to higher sales in the public sector, El Niño reconstruction spending and a revival of infrastructure projects.