Displaying items by tag: Cementos Pacasmayo

Peru’s been the place over the last week with news reports of new production capacity and its targeting as a key export market by Vietnam.

Local press reported this week that three new cement grinding plants are planned to start production in 2019. Cemento Inka plans to build a 0.6Mt/yr grinding plant at Ica near Pisco. It also plans to upgrade the kilns at its plant at Cajamarquilla near Lima. Then Mixercon, a ready-mix concrete firm, wants to spend US$20m towards building two new plants in northern Lima, also in 2019. It also has plans to open distribution centres around the capital too.

For a local industry generally dominated by local often family-controlled producers this is quite a change. The larger companies – Pacasmayo, UNACEM and Yura – normally dominate the headlines and the market here. Unsurprisingly then that Pacasmayo and Yura also have upgrades planned for their plants in 2019 too.

Changes to capacity started in late May 2018 when Salaverry-based importer Invecem was said to be buying equipment for a 0.25Mt/yr grinding plant. Then things really started moving when Unacem bought Cementos Portland (Cempor), a joint venture between Chile's Cementos Bío Bío and Brazil’s Votorantim Cimentos. The foreign companies were planning to build a plant near Lima but the project was delayed by a legal battle over environmental issues intitiated by Unacem. This was followed by Cal & Cemento Sur (Calcesur), a subsidiary of Grupo Gloria, announcing that it was going to add a new production line to its cement and lime plant in Puno.

With this level of interest in grinding plants going on it’s unsurprising that Vietnam, a major exporter of cement, has taken an interest. Imports of cement to Peru rose by 65% year-on-year to 0.94Mt in the 12 months from December 2017 to November 2018 from 0.57Mt in the same period previously. Imports of clinker rose by 37% to 0.78Mt from 0.57Mt. This compares to a rise of 21% to 0.61Mt in cement imports in 2017 and a fall of 1.2% to 0.51Mt in 2016. In the 12 months to the end of November 2018 most of that imported cement (81%) came from Vietnam followed by 14% from China and 3% from Mexico. Clinker imports have been more varied with 39% from South Korea, 31% from Vietnam, 19% from Ecuador and 11% from Japan. The general situation for the clinker producers has been a slight increase in cement production to 10Mt for the 12 months to the end of November 2018 and slightly higher increases in despatches.

So, it looks like an apparent cement demand is up in Peru and the importers are rushing to meeting demand. The question, then, is why haven’t the clinker producers announced projects to squeeze out the grinders? As mentioned above Pacasmayo and Yura have upgrades planned but nothing really large seems to be coming yet. Also, given the tough time Cempor was given by the local companies what kind of opposition are the new projects by Cemento Inka, Mixercon and Invecem likely to face? The country’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate is below the glory days of the 2000s when it topped 6% but it is still one of the strongest in South America with 3.8% forecast for 2019 by the World Bank. This is the country in the region to watch in 2019.

Peru: Three new cement grinding plants are planned to start production in Peru in 2019. Cemento Inka plans to invest US$25m towards opening a 0.6Mt/yr cement grinding plant at Ica near Pisco in late 2019, according to the Gestión newspaper. It also plans to update the kilns at its unit in Cajamarquilla. Mixercon plans to invest US$20m towards building two new cement plants in northern Lima. These new plants should open during the second half of 2019. Mixercon also intends to open at least one more distribution centre in Lima. Cementos Pacasmayo and Cemento Yura also have upgrades planned to their plants in 2019.

Peru: Higher sales to the self-construction sector, medium-sized companies and the public sector have driven sales growth for Cementos Pacasmayo. Its sales grew by 3.1% year-on-year to US$274m in the first nine month of 2018 from US$266m in the same period in 2017. Its consolidated earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) increased by 5.1% to US$83m from US$79m.

Cement and clinker production grew by 2.4% to 1.69Mt and 14.7% to 1.30Mt respectively. The building materials producer also reported that quicklime production fell by 23.6% to 97,400t at its Pacasmayo plant due to reduced demand.

UK: The Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA) reports that it continues to grow, with the addition of several new member companies from Europe, South America and Asia. In August 2018 there were six new members: Buzzi Unicem, Cementos Argos, Cementos Pacasmayo, Çimsa Çimento, SCG Cement and Titan Cement. The GCCA also welcomed the US Portland Cement Association (PCA) as an Affiliate.

Albert Manifold, GCCA President (and CEO of CRH) said, “We are delighted to welcome further cement and concrete companies and like-minded organisations to the GCCA. The GCCA was set up to provide the authoratitive global voice for this essential sector. With every new member, the voice becomes even stronger.”

The new members and affiliates join 10 existing member companies: Cemex, CNBM, CRH, Dangote Cement, Eurocement, HeidelbergCement, LafargeHolcim, Taiheiyo Cement, UltraTech Cement and Votorantim. Further applications for member and affiliate status have been received and are being processed.

Peru: Cementos Pacasmayo’s sales revenue grew by 7.5% year-on-year to US$184m in the first half of 2018 from US$171m in the same period in 2017. Its production of cement rose by 3.9% to 1.08Mt from 1.04Mt and clinker production rose by 15.9% to 0.87Mt from 0.75Mt. Its consolidated earnings before interest taxation depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose by 12.2% to US$54.7m from US$48.7m.

The cement producer said that, despite growth, it felt that the pace was lower than its expectations. Infrastructure reconstruction in the north of the country had suffered delays and self-construction has grown at lower rates than expected. It party blamed this on the country’s qualification to 2018 FIFA World Cup as funding was focused on ‘soccer-related categories.’

Peru: Cementos Pacasmayo has seen its sales volumes of cement, concrete and blocks rise by 7.8% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2018, primarily due to increased sales volume of cement to the public sector and the self-construction segment. Its revenues increased by 12.8%, also due to higher cement sales, as well as an average cement price increase.

Cementos Pacasmayo’s net income was US$9.22m, a 37.3% increase, mainly due to higher sales and operating profit. Consolidated earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) were US$29.2m.

Peru: Cementos Pacasmayso has announced its financial results for the fourth quarter of and the full year 2017.

In the fourth quarter of 2017, sales volumes of cement, concrete and blocks increased by 7.3%, primarily due to increased sales volumes to the self-construction segment and to a pick up in public sector spending. The company’s cement-based earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) increased by 13.9% to US$32.3m, but consolidated EBITDA decreased by 35.7% due to a write-off in a water-desalination project.

For the full year, sales of cement, concrete and blocks decreased by 0.8%, despite the significant decline in sales volume during the first four months of the year due to the effects of the El Niño. It is important to note that year-on-year sales volume has increased steadily every month, from May 2017 through to the end of the year. Cement EBITDA for the year reached US$114.9m, a decrease of only 2.2%, despite the aforementioned detrimental El Niño effects on both sales and costs.

Data from the Peruvian cement association (ASOCEM) presents a potential bounce in the fortunes of the local industry in March 2017. Cement production rose slightly year-on-year to 0.79Mt. This is the first monthly rise since July 2016. The first quarter of 2017 as a whole is down by 4.5% year-on-year to 2.35Mt but any fillip is surely welcome.

Graph 1: Cement production in Peru, 2012 – 2016. Source: ASOCEM.

Graph 1 shows that production peaked in 2014. Although it has fallen since then it is still above the level in 2012. Cementos Pacasmayo blamed the overall fall in 2016 on a strong end to 2015 associated with El Niño prevention investments although, given that its production volumes also fell in 2015, albeit slightly, it may be being optimistic in its analysis. It also blamed the widening fallout from the Brazilian Petrobras corruption scandal for delaying investment by the Peruvian government on an infrastructure drive.

Graph 2: Cement and clinker imports to Peru, 2014 – 2016. Source: ASOCEM/SUNAT.

Another point to examine in ASOCEM’s latest release is the import figures as can be seen in Graph 2. Overall cement and clinker import volumes have hovered around 10 – 15% of local production but the ratios have changed since 2014, with a focus on ground cement. Cementos Pacasmayo provided one possible reason in its fourth quarter report for 2016 with the news that it had started replacing imported clinker with its own clinker as it increased production at its new Piura plant. Most of this cement has been coming from Vietnam through 2015 and 2016. Coincidentally, Vietnam’s General Department of Vietnam Customs has reported this week that local exports of cement and clinker are up by 11% to 4.82Mt for the first quarter of 2017 and that Peru is one of the top destinations. Also of note in February 2017 was a significant cement import of 30,800t from China following no imports from that country in 2016 and most of 2015.

Recent production and import trends aside, the Peruvian cement industry’s industry base hasn’t changed much since last time this column coved it (GCW183, January 2015). The country has three main producers – UNACEM, Cementos Pacasmayo and Grupo Gloria – who operate 49%, 43% and 8% respectively of the local 11.4Mt/yr production capacity. They each operate production units in north-south geographical bands in the country with Pacasmayo in the north, UNACEM in the central coastal region near to Lima and Gloria’s subsidiaries in the south.

As mentioned above, Cementos Pacasmayo has been increasing production at its newer Piura plant since mid-2015. Gloria Group purchased Cementos Otorongo, a project to build a cement plant in the south, from Votorantim in mid-2016 and Cemex was reported as having gained government approval for a grinding plant project in Lima in early 2016. On the financial side, UNACEM’s income fell by 4% to US$573m in 2016. Cementos Pacasmayo’s sales fell slightly to US$381m and its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) for its cement operations fell by 4.6% to US$118m.

Like lots of African countries the outlook for the construction industry in Peru is good in the medium term with plenty of scope for development and a growing economy despite a contraction of 6% in the construction industry in 2016. The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate hit a low of 2.4% in 2014 but it has since started to pick up again. Once or if the Kuczynski administration starts spending on infrastructure then all the signs should point to growth in the cement industry. Given the amount of clinker sloshing around the world if any producers actually start opening terminals or grinding plants this would suggest they are confident of a return on investment.

Peru: Cementos Pacasmayo’s net income rose by 12.1% year-on-year to US$60.4m in 2015 from US$53.8m in 2014. Its revenue fell slightly to US$351m from US$354m. Its cement production volumes fell slightly by 0.7% to 2.3Mt from 2.35Mt.

The cement producer attributed its profit growth to cost savings despite a ‘challenging’ operating environment. It managed to hold its cement production volumes at a stable level due to the ramping up of its Piura cement plant in the fourth quarter of 2015 despite falling volumes at its Pacasmayo and Rioja cement plants.

Peru: Cementos Pacasmayo has begun commercial production from its new Piura cement plant. According to the company, the Piura plant will be the most modern cement plant in Latin America and features a multi-fuel kiln. Its final capacity will be 1.6Mt/yr of cement and 1Mt/yr of clinker.

"I am delighted to announce the beginning of commercial operations at the Piura plant, an important milestone for Cementos Pacasmayo and the Peruvian cement industry," said Humberto Nadal, CEO of Cementos Pacasmayo. "Piura will offer our clients high-quality cement, with improved logistics, while simultaneously lowering our cost of production. We continue to execute this project on time and under budget, demonstrating our expertise in large-scale, advanced facilities. We look forward to moving the plant along its production curve, creating value for all stakeholders."