Displaying items by tag: China

Northern-Ireland based cement producer Cemcor said this week that it has completed trials of a calcined clay cement product called CalcinX. The company started its trials in 2023 and it has been supported by Queen’s University Belfast and funding from Innovate UK. Work with commercial partners has involved precast concrete paving manufacturer Tobermore producing paviours made from 50% CalcinX as a CEM II replacement and Moore Concrete has also manufactured precast units using 50% CalcinX as a CEM I replacement. So far over 3000t of CalcinX has been produced in a number of industrial-scale trials.

David Millar, the managing director of Cemcor, mentioned his company’s plans for calcined clay in June 2022 when he was interviewed by Global Cement Magazine. The company that became Cemcor bought the Cookstown cement plant and a few other assets from Holcim at the start of 2022. It then changed its name to Cemcor in November 2022. At the time of the interview the company was looking to “...develop new value-added products, including low-CO₂ options. This will allow us to use the same amount of clinker to produce more cement.” Millar couldn’t give away too many details at the time, however calcined clay was cited specifically. It was also noted that the company had the right material in its quarry and that it was already working with partners on it.

Amongst all the other decarbonisation options available for cement plants, a slow trickle of calcined clay projects keep being announced. In January 2025, for example, thyssenkrupp Polysius said it had secured a front-end engineering design contract from Circlua for the construction of the world’s largest activated clay plant in Brazil. This project in Para state will have a capacity of 3000t/day, will use renewable energy sources and will “improve the CO₂ footprint in cement production.” CBMI Construction also officially launched a flash calcination clay project in Tangshan, Hebei province in China. In December 2024, Vicat signed an agreement with the US Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations to develop the Lebec Net Zero (LNZ) project at its Lebec cement plant in California. This includes plans to produce calcined clay-based cement. Earlier in the autumn of 2024 Portugal-based Cimpor said it was preparing to convert a kiln at its Souselas plant to produce calcined clays, AVIC International Beijing and KHD said that they had secured a deal to build a 900t/day clay calcination plant for Ciments de l'Afrique (CIMAF) in Burkina Faso, and Holcim Česko said it was going to construct a calcined clay processing line at the Čížkovice cement plant in the Czech Republic.

One news story that stuck out in the autumn was the progress of a collaboration between Aumund and Holcim towards developing an electric linear calcination conveyor (eLCC). The two companies started work on the project in 2020 intending to look at the electrical calcination of clay using an Aumund pan conveyor. Initial tests of the eLCC reportedly demonstrated efficient thermal activation of clay through a combination of radiant heat and material circulation. The eLCC system is fully enclosed, insulated, has a compact design and can operate using electrical-powered renewable sources. The first industrial plant utilising this technology is scheduled for construction in 2025. Calcined clay technology and products by other industrial suppliers are available. The work by Aumund and its competitors show they are watching this market closely.

OneStone Consulting’s Joe Harder has found that only 14 clay calcination plants were operational worldwide in 2023 with a production capacity of just under 3.5Mt/yr. These are based in Latin America, Europe and Africa. In an article previewing a market report in the February 2025 issue of Global Cement Magazine, Harder predicts that by 2035 there will be 79 clay calcination plants with a capacity of just under 21Mt/yr. A steady growth of over 20 new plants annually is also expected subsequently from 2035 to 2050 as cement producers seek cost-effective ways to reduce their clinker factor. He identified installation costs, a lack of knowledge about clay-based cements, trouble obtaining mining rights and policy issues amongst other issues as holding back the use of clay calcination.

The current expectation is that calcined clay usage in the cement industry will be a minority option. Yet the size of global cement production can make a production share of, say, 3 - 8% a viable option for both cement manufacturers and equipment suppliers. The adoption of new cement products and standards can also take a long time and this clouds predictions of how far clay can go in the cement industry. At this point in the calcined clay story it is time to keep track of the new projects being set up.

Joe Harder will present a talk entitled ‘Calcined clay market trends by 2035’ at the Global FutureCem Conference taking place in Istanbul in early February 2025

China: The Conch Zongyang Line 4 preheater modernisation project, based on KHD technology, has been selected as a pilot project under the Sino-German Energy Efficiency Improvement Demonstration in Key Industries programme. The initiative will be executed by KHD, its parent company AVIC International Beijing, and Conch Group’s research and development department. Results are expected by the end of 2025.

The programme stems from a 2023 agreement between China and Germany on climate change and ‘green’ transition cooperation. The programme was announced in 2024. It evaluated 12 candidate projects before selecting the Conch Zongyang project for its integration of technologies to achieve energy efficiency and a reduction in CO₂.

This project is one of several provided by AVIC to Chinese cement producers using KHD’s pyroprocessing, grinding, alternative fuel and digitalisation solutions.

China: Sinoma International Engineering has appointed Yin Ling as its chief financial officer and as a vice president. She succeeds Wang Yuan in the post. Yuan will continue to work as a vice president for the company.
Ling holds a bachelor’s degree in economics and is trained as an accountant. She has worked for Huazheng Certified Public Accountants, China Fiberglass and as the general manager for the finance department of China National Building Materials.

China: CBMI Construction has officially launched a flash calcination clay project in Tangshan, Hebei province. Karen Scrivener, head of the Laboratory of Construction Materials at the School of Engineering at the Ecole polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), attended the event. Scrivener is a prominent researcher and advocate for LC3 (limestone calcined clay cement).

CBMI’s other clay projects around the world as a contractor include the SPL Calcined Clay Project in France, the CIZ Calcined Clay Project (rotary calciner) in the Czech Republic, the Guayaquil Calcined Clay Project in Ecuador and the Ivory Coast Calcined Clay Project (flash calciner).

China: Jing Shiqing has been appointed as the chair of China Resources Cement (CRC) and Xie Ji has been appointed as the CEO. Jing was previously the CEO of the company and Ji Youhong was previously the chair.

Jing, aged 43 years, has worked as the CEO of CRH since 2023. He joined the group in 2003. He became the Deputy General Manager of the Human Resources Department of China Resources Group in 2018 and the Vice President of the company in 2021. He holds a bachelor’s degree in engineering from the Changsha University of Science and Technology, China and a master’s degree in business administration from the Nanjing University. He is currently the Vice President of the Fifth Council of the Guangdong Building Materials Association.

Xie, aged 52 years, previously worked as the Deputy General Manager of the Strategic Management Department at CRC. He joined the group in 1993. Notable roles include working as a Vice President in the early 2010s and Chief Strategy Officer from 2021 to mid-2024. He holds a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Tongji University and an executive master’s degree in business administration from China Europe International Business School.

China/Denmark: Denmark-based FLSmidth Cement has signed a licensing agreement with Sinoma International Intelligent Technology (IIT) covering the production and sale of QCX lab equipment in China. Cyril Leung, Country Head China – FLSmdith, said “The deal effectively provides us a new sales channel and represents our continued commitment to enhancing our services in the world’s largest cement market.”

All QCX equipment that FLSmidth Cement supplies outside of China will continue to be made in Brno, Czech Republic. Development and delivery of QCX software will remain in Denmark. FLSmidth noted that the agreement has no impact on the ongoing divestment of FLSmidth Cement.
FLSmidth Cement’s QCX lab equipment supports sampling, preparation and analysis. Products in the range include the QCX/RoboLab laboratory automation system, analysers, sample preparation products, quality control systems and laboratory software.

Typical! We published a cement sector news review for 2024 in the December 2024 issue of Global Cement Magazine and a load of big important events happened afterwards. So, here is a roundup of some of the major stories that have taken place in the last two months of the year.

The TL:DR (too long; didn't read) version of ‘Global Cement News in 2024’ was: focus on the US market by the multinationals; cement joining the emissions trading scheme in China as the world’s largest market stagnates; continued rivalry between UltraTech Cement and Adani Group in India as that sector grows; markets in the Middle East and North Africa adjusting to higher exports; the drawn out divestment of InterCement in Brazil; lots of new plants in Sub-Saharan Africa reflecting demographic trends; and an emphasis on construction and demolition materials in Europe but one on aggregates in North America.

However, from November 2024 onwards… Donald Trump was re-elected as President in the US, Quikrete put in an US$11.5bn deal to buy Summit Materials, the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP29) in Azerbaijan ended in acrimony, Gautam Adani was accused of fraud by a US court and Huaxin Cement said it was buying Holcim’s majority stake in Lafarge Africa for US$1bn. These have all been covered in previous editions of Global Cement Weekly. Check them out for more information. One can tell it’s been a busy tail-end to the year though when a US$600m agreement by Heidelberg Materials North America to buy Giant Cement Holding did not make the top five, admittedly selective, noteworthy news stories of the last two months of 2024. These stories also, roughly, followed the trends highlighted in the ‘Global Cement News in 2024’ article.

To reflect on the Adani story a few weeks later, nothing much seems to have occurred. Yet. The share price of various Adani Group companies fell when the US authorities made the announcement in late November 2024 but they have mostly regained much of their value since then. The consensus by Reuters, this week, was that the US prosecutors have a strong case backed up by documentation but extradition seems unlikely. Adani himself has made public appearances in India since the allegations surfaced. One minor consequence has been that Gautam Adani exited the US$100bn Bloomberg Billionaires Index in 2024. This is likely to have been caused, in part at least, by the allegations from Hindenburg Research in 2023 and the current legal problems from the US bringing down share prices. On the cement side of Adani Group it appears to have been business as usual so far. A large-scale investment in Rajasthan was announced in December 2024 and, this week, plans to merge subsidiaries Sanghi Industries and Penna Cement with Ambuja Cements were disclosed.

Another general trend that we haven’t covered much online have been changes in the Australian market. Last week, Cement Australia, a joint venture between Heidelberg Materials Australia and Holcim Australia, said it was acquiring the cementitious division of the Buckeridge Group of Companies (BGC) for US$800m. This follows CRH’s purchase of a majority stake in AdBri that was approved by the latter’s shareholders over the summer. Around the same time, Seven Group Holdings completed its acquisition of the remaining 28% stake in Boral that it did not already own. For more on the situation in Australia and New Zealand read the article in the January 2025 issue of Global Cement Magazine.

That’s it for 2024. Unless another massive news story in the cement sector gets announced in the next week-and-a-half.

Global Cement Weekly will return on Wednesday 8 January 2025

China: Ji Youhong has retired as the chair of China Resources Cement as he has reached retirement age. He has also stepped down as an executive director, the chair of the company’s strategy and investment committee and the chair of its nomination committee. CEO Jing Shiqin will chair the board on an interim basis until a successor is appointment.

Ji was appointed as the chair of the board of China Resources Cement in 2022 and an executive director in 2016. He originally joined the group in 2003 and has worked in various positions including the general manager of various cement and concrete subsidiaries, the marketing controller from 2008 to 2012, the Regional General Manager (Guangxi) from 2012 to 2016, and the CEO from 2016 to 2023. JI holds a bachelor’s degree in engineering and a master’s degree in inorganic and non-metallic materials. He is currently the vice chair of the China Building Materials Federation and the executive vice chair of the China Cement Association. Previously he was the Vice President of the Eighth Council of the China Concrete and Cement-Based Products Association.

Huaxin Cement revealed this week that it is buying Holcim’s majority stake in Lafarge Africa for US$1bn. The moment marks a big step in the China-based cement producer’s international ambitions. It has been linked in the financial media to many divestments around the world in recent years. Yet this appears to be its largest acquisition so far and it adds to what is becoming a serious sized multinational business in Sub-Saharan Africa.

The details of the deal are that Holcim has agreed to sell its 83% share of Lafarge Africa to Huaxin Cement. Lafarge Africa operates four integrated cement plants in Nigeria at Sagamu and Ewekoro in Ogun State, at Mfamosing in Cross River State and the Ashaka Cement plant in Gombe State. It has a combined production capacity of 10.5Mt/yr. The transaction is expected to close in 2025 subject to regulatory approvals.

Holcim holds a relationship with Huaxin Cement that dates back to the late 1990s when it first bought a stake in the company. Following the formation of LafargeHolcim in the mid-2010s, Lafarge’s subsidiary Lafarge China Cement was sold to Huaxin Cement. At the end of 2023 Holcim reported that it owned just under a 42% share in the company. Huaxin Cement has also bought assets from Holcim as the latter company has divested subsidiaries over the last decade. In 2021 it bought Lafarge Zambia and Pan African Cement in Malawi from Holcim. This adds to other acquisitions in the region. In 2020 it purchased African Tanzanian Maweni Limestone from ARM Cement. Later in 2023 it picked up InterCement’s subsidiaries in Mozambique and South Africa. In addition, in October 2024 local media in Zimbabwe reported that the company was planning to build a grinding plant. Now, throw in the plants in Nigeria and Huaxin Cement is the second biggest cement producer in Sub-Saharan Africa after Dangote Cement.

Huaxin Cement said it had an overseas cement grinding capacity of just under 21Mt/yr at the end of 2023. However, this figure included plants in Cambodia, Kyrgyzstan, Nepal, Oman, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Data from the Global Cement Directory 2024 suggests that the company now has 10 integrated cement plants in Sub-Saharan Africa with a cement capacity of around 18Mt/yr. It also operates a number of grinding plants in these countries.

The Lafarge Africa deal is significant because a mainland China-based cement producer has finally hit the US$1bn window in merger and acquisition (M&A) activity overseas. Many potential acquisitions in the sector are linked by the press to Chinese companies these days. However, most of the activity to date has been of a plant-by-plant or piecemeal nature. Alternatively, these companies have been building their own plants around the world as part of the Belt and Road Initiative. Taiwan Cement Corporation (TCC) has spent more buying itself into Türkiye-based OYAK Cement since 2018 but it is headquartered in Taipei.

The question from here is how much further does Huaxin Cement plan to expand both in Africa and beyond? The obvious answer is that it will keep going given the state of the cement sector back home in China, the retreat of the western multinationals and the demographic trends in the region. World population growth is predicted to be fastest in Africa in the coming decades and demand for cement should follow. Outside of Africa, the ‘big’ one recently has been InterCement in Brazil. Unfortunately for Huaxin Cement though, InterCement extended its exclusivity deal with Companhia Siderúrgica Nacional (CSN) in November 2024. If the Lafarge Africa transaction completes then it will be the biggest deal yet and it will welcome a China-based cement company to the big league of international M&A. It may just be the start.

Uzbekistan: Customs authorities have raised the clearance fee for cement imported from Tajikistan by seven-fold. In early November 2024 the fee was increased by US$300/t from US$35/t previously, according to the Asia Plus news agency. A source quoted by the news agency speculated that the move follows a strategy meeting by local cement manufacturers in October 2024. Tajikistan has previously been the main supplier of cement to Uzbekistan. However, as the country has built new cement plants, often supported by investors in China, domestic production capacity is growing. The Uzbek government previously banned cement imports for a short period in mid-2020.