Displaying items by tag: China

We turn to look at the Chinese cement sector now that the larger China-based cement producers have released their financial results for 2023. In summary, national output of cement has continued to fall and many of the bigger companies are reporting weakening sales and profits. Yet this trend appears to be slowing, with a few of the producers managing to grow revenue, profits and sales volumes.

Graph 1: Cement output in China, 2018 to 2023. Source: National Bureau of Statistics of China.

Data from the National Bureau of Statistics of China shows that cement output fell by 4.5% year-on-year from 2.11Bnt in 2022 to 2.02Bnt in 2023. This is a slower rate of decline than the 10.4% drop reported between 2021 and 2022. However, it is worth noting that the rate of decrease in output on a half-year basis fell strongly in the first half of 2023 but remained similar in the second half of the year. In its commentary, the China Cement Association (CCA) said that the country’s real estate development investment fell by 10% year-on-year to US$1.53tn.

Graph 2: Sales revenue from selected Chinese cement producers. Source: Company financial reports.

Graph 3: Sales volumes of cement and clinker from selected Chinese cement producers. Source: Company financial reports.

Unlike in 2022 the two graphs above show that not every cement producer has lost revenue or sales volumes of cement in 2023. CNBM chair Zhou Yuxian used the phrase ‘storms and challenges’ to describe the situation faced by the world’s largest cement company. He left president Wei Rushan to deliver the bad news that the cement industry as a whole faced “insufficient demand, weakening expectations and weakening off-peak season characteristics” along with surpluses and high costs. He said that the cement sector in China saw its profit fall by 50% to US$4.42bn in 2023, its lowest figure since the mid-2000s.

In comparison CNBM Group’s revenue fell by 10% year-on-year to US$29bn and profit by 52% to US$534m. This was principally due to losses from the group’s basic building materials division, the section that makes heavy building materials, including cement. Alongside this, it pushed on with its supply-side structural reforms, implemented staggered peak production and worked on sustainability initiatives. These included preparations for the national carbon emissions trading scheme. Anhui Conch’s results showed that it managed to increase its revenue but its sales volumes of cement dropped and its profits fell by 33% to US$1.48bn. It achieved the boost in revenue by growing its trading business.

Of the smaller companies covered here, only Huaxin Cement managed to grow its revenue in 2023. It appeared to pull this off by growing its concrete and aggregate business domestically whilst growing the business overseas at the same time. The share of its international business grew to 16% in 2023 from 13% in 2022. Major overseas acquisitions in 2023 included Oman Cement and InterCement’s subsidiaries in Mozambique and South Africa. More recently Huaxin Cement has also been reported by local media as the preferential bidder for InterCement’s business in Brazil, although no formal announcement has been made. Of the rest, Tangshan Jidong Cement, CRBMT and China Tianrui all reported declines in sales revenue and profits. Tangshan Jidong Cement did manage to grow its cement sales volumes, but reported heightened competition in the north and north-east of China where most of its plants are located.

With the first quarter results for 2024 on the way soon, the CCA has been bracing itself and the sector for more bad news. It noted that national cement prices during the last week of March 2024 were about 1% lower than during the same week in 2023. Prices were lower in East, Central and South China, although they had increased in Chengdu and Sichuan. The CCA is worried that a price war, either nationally or regionally, will make a bad situation worse. It has called on cement producers to accept that the slowdown of infrastructure development in the country has led to a decline in cement demand and that this is the new normal. Apart from the usual watchwords of ‘self-discipline,’ ‘overcapacity reduction’ and ‘supply-side reforms’ the association has suggested that cement companies look for growth internationally and look to the leadership of associations to help everyone adapt to the new market situation. China’s sales output of cement may be starting to stabilise, but the market has a way to go yet to adapt to the new reality.

China: Poor performance by CNBM’s Basic Building Materials division dragged down the group’s sales in 2023 despite positive performance by the group’s Engineering Technical Services and New Materials segments. Its revenue fell by 10% year-on-year to US$29.1bn in 2023 from US$32.3bn in 2022. Its profit after tax dropped by 33% to US$1.44bn from US$2.13bn. Sales volumes of cement and clinker decreased by 3% to 309Mt from 317Mt. Sales volumes of commercial concrete fell by 5% to 80.8Mm³ from 84.7Mm³.

Revenue for the Basic Building Materials division fell by 19% to US$16.4bn. The company blamed this on a fall in the price of cement, concrete and aggregates although an increase in sales volume of aggregates was noted. The group said that in 2023, the cement industry was characterised by ‘insufficient demand, weakening expectations and weakening off-peak season characteristics,’ coupled with and aggravating surplus and high costs.

China: Huaxin Cement grew its revenue and profit in 2023 by growing its concrete market domestically and increasing its international business. Its revenue rose by 11% year-on-year to US$4.67bn in 2023 from US$4.21bn in 2022. However its operating revenue from cement and clinker declined. The group’s net profit increased by 2% to US$382m from US$373m. Its cement sales volumes grew by 2% to 76.8Mt from 75.3Mt. Concrete sales volumes mounted by 66% to 27.3Mm³.

The share of its international business grew by 16% in 2023 from 13% in 2022. Notable acquisitions in 2023 included the purchases of Oman Cement and InterCement’s assets in Sub-Saharan Africa.

China: China Tianrui Group Cement's sales were US$1.09bn in 2023, down by 32% year-on-year from US$1.60bn. Reuters has reported that the company recorded a full-year loss of US$87.6m, where previously it recorded a profit of US$62m in 2022.

China: Anhui Conch Cement's turnover was US$19.6bn in 2023, up by 6.8% year-on-year from 2022 levels. Sales of 42.5 grade cement contributed US$8.46bn (43% of turnover), down by 12% year-on-year. Meanwhile, sales of commercial concrete grew by 25% to US$313m (1.6% of turnover). Overall, the producer’s net profit fell by 33% to US$1.48bn.

Anhui Conch Cement commenced a share buyback programme for up to US$83m-worth of its listed stock in November 2023. At the end of the year, it had repurchased 0.3% of its shares.

Brazil: Companhia Siderúrgica Nacional (CSN), Votorantim Cimentos and China-based Huaxin Cement have all submitted ‘virtually’ identical bids for InterCement's assets in Brazil. Valor International News has reported that Huaxin Cement may be the bidder that best 'pleases' InterCement. As a would-be market newcomer, its acquisition of the business would not require investigation by the Administrative Council for Economic Defence (CADE).

For rival bidder CSN, growth in Brazil would shape its planned initial public offering of its local cement subsidiary CSN Cimentos later in 2024. The group reportedly plans to appoint current CFO Marcelo Ribeiro as CEO of CSN Cimentos.

Italy: Cementir Holding’s sales were Euro1.69bn in 2023, down by 1.7% year-on-year from Euro1.72bn in 2022. Its operating costs were Euro1.44bn, down by 8% from Euro1.33bn. As a result, the company increased its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) by 23% to Euro411m from Euro335m. Cement and clinker sales volumes fell by 1.6% year-on-year to 10.7Mt due to a general market slowdown, though they rose in China and Türkiye.

Chair and CEO Francesco Caltagirone said “Despite an increasingly uncertain macroeconomic scenario due to growing geopolitical tensions and more restrictive monetary conditions, in 2023 the group demonstrated significant resilience, setting new records thanks to an even more diversified geographical and product mix. The general weakness in volumes, with the exception of Türkiye and China, was balanced by the improvement in operational efficiency.”

InterCement confirmed this week that it is accepting bids for its sale. The local financial press had been covering InterCement’s progress towards this since the autumn when it was reported that it appointed BTG Pactual to manage the sale.

The Valor Econômico newspaper then revealed this week that Companhia Siderúrgica Nacional (CSN), Votorantim and China-based Huaxin Cement had all submitted bids. InterCement admitted that it had received offers but didn’t say from who, and pointed out that no deal had been signed yet. Valor said that Votorantim was part of a consortium including Polimix (parent company of Mizu Cimentos) and Buzzi. However, Votorantim issued a statement affirming its involvement but pointing out that it was acting alone and not part of a consortium. Finally, Valor reported that InterCement is looking to raise at least US$1.2bn from the sale of its business in Brazil. In Argentina, Loma Negra confirmed what its parent company, InterCement, was doing. La Nación newspaper also reckoned that the parent company might be looking for over US$700m for the subsidiary.

Rumours that InterCement was looking to sell assets have swirled around since the early 2010s when InterCement picked up the Brazil-based assets of Cimpor and Votorantim bought the international ones. The local market then collapsed giving InterCement a hard time, although when it started to rally in the late 2010s the talk turned to a potential initial public offering. More recently the focus has been on InterCement’s high level of debt and pending maturation dates. It publicly said it was working towards a new capital structure in May 2023 and various debt negotiations followed. By the end of the third quarter of 2023 it reported debts in debentures and senior notes of just under US$1.6bn. It signed a deal to sell its subsidiary in Egypt in January 2023 to an unspecified buyer and then divested its operations in Mozambique and South Africa to Huaxin Cement for just over US$230m in December 2023.

It is noteworthy that InterCement has gone public about its divestment intentions now, given previous coverage in the local press and the poor state of its finances in 2023. In November 2023, for example, Valor reported that CSN had hired Morgan Stanley to represent it in a dispute over the sale. At this time Huaxin Cement plus Titan, Buzzi, Polimix and Vicat were all said to be interested. CSN was also said to be waiting until the results of the presidential election in Argentina first before committing to any deal. Yet InterCement said nothing about what was going on at this time.

The other issue is whether InterCement wants to sell its assets in one big piece or in sections. This would be of particular interest to Votorantim, and CSN to a lesser extent, since they control 30% and 20% of the cement market respectively, according to Valor. Data based on cement production capacity data from the Global Cement Directory makes the gap between the two companies wider since Votorantim holds 46% compared to CSN’s 9%. The point here is that the local competition regulator, the Administrative Court of the Brazilian Administrative Council of Economic Defence (CADE), would be more likely to intervene if it determined that one company might be about to distort the market. Clearly this could happen if Votorantim struck a deal to buy InterCement but there might also be issues regionally with CSN or indeed some of the other local cement producers. Alternatively, Votorantim might be interested in buying Loma Negra instead. All InterCement has said on the matter is that it is “evaluating strategic alternatives, such as private placement, merger, or partnership with a strategic player, or even a potential divestment.”

Any potential sales of InterCement would be the biggest adjustment to the Brazilian cement sector since CSN bought Holcim Brazil for just over US$1bn in mid-2022. There appear to be plenty of potential vendors for both the businesses in Brazil and Argentina but whether InterCement sells its assets in one big lump or in separate pieces may be an issue almost as important as the price, given the competition concerns. Finally, could this be the first major China-based acquisition in the cement sector in South America? Huaxin Cement demonstrated willingness to buy plants from InterCement in Africa in 2023 and it has been linked in the current auction. Unlike previous talk of InterCement selling up, this time it seems serious given the divestments in Africa and the scale of the debt. An outcome seems likely in the coming months.

China: Tangshan Jidong Cement has appointed Kong Qinghui as its chair. Other appointments include Liu Yu as vice chairman and general manager, Yang Beifang as financial director, Liu Sumin as chief digital officer, and Li Jianfang as general counsel.

Kong Qinghui is a graduate in accounting and he holds a master’s degree in engineering from the Chongqing University of Technology. He started his professional career in 1995 working for Baby-Joy Group in Yantai, before becoming the vice general manager at the logistics headquarters of Tangshan Jidong Cement. Further marketing and management roles followed at various subsidiaries of Tangshan Jidong Cement before Qinghui was appointed as the cement producer’s vice general manager in 2017. From 2020 to mid-2023 he was the general manager assistant of the company and then he became its deputy general manager.

China: Xinjiang Tianshan Cement plans to make major capital expenditure (CAPEX) investments in its operations in 2024. Reuters has reported the projected value of the investments as US$2.36bn.