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Displaying items by tag: Cimsa
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development loans Çimsa US$26.7m for decarbonisation projects
26 June 2024Türkiye: Çimsa has secured a US$26.7m loan from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). The bank says that the loans will finance decarbonisation projects, including the establishment of waste heat recovery (WHR) and solar power units.
Çimsa CEO Umut Zenar said, "We are determined to advance our sustainability goals and take important steps in our energy efficiency and decarbonisation efforts. This collaboration with the EBRD represents a significant milestone in our journey towards a greener future. We are proud to be the first cement company in Türkiye to receive this type of financing from the EBRD, reflecting our commitment to leading the industry in sustainability initiatives.”
The EBRD expects Türkiye to require US$10bn worth of investments up to 2030 to be on track for its target of net zero CO2 emissions by 2053.
Update on Spain, May 2024
29 May 2024Cemex 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: Çimsa has invested €4.2m in launching a solar photovoltaic power plant to power its white cement plant in Buñol, Valencia. The solar plant has a capacity of 7.2MW and will supply about 18% of the energy needs for the cement plant.
The facility features 11,000 solar panels spread over 100,000m2. This new solar power plant is expected to produce approximately 12GWh/yr of electricity, reducing CO₂ emissions by about 3000t/yr.
Arda Aba appointed as Purchasing Group Manager at Çimsa
24 January 2024Türkiye: Çimsa has appointed Arda Aba as a Purchasing Group Manager. He has worked for the cement company in purchasing and investment roles since 2015. Before this he held a number of similar roles in the automotive industry with positions at Pimsa Adler and Ford Otosan. He holds a master’s degree and a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Istanbul Technical University and Yıldız Teknik Üniversitesi respectively.
New directors appointed at Norm
18 October 2023Azerbaijan: Norm has appointed Ülkü Özcan and Stephan Sollberger to its board of directors, according to the Trend News Agency.
Ülkü Özcan holds over 20 years of experience in the cement industry. She has held various positions in Cimsa and held the position of its chief executive officer from 2018 to 2020. Since then she has been working in the energy & telecommunication cable business in Türkiye. Additionally, she has held various roles at Afyon Cement, including a member of the board of directors, a representative for the Global Cement and Concrete Association and a member in the Audit Committee of the Cement Manufacturers Association of Türkiye. She has also worked for Lafarge Turkey previously. Özcan is a business graduate from Marmara University and has completed the Advanced Industrial Marketing and Strategy Program at INSEAD Business School in Paris.
Stephan Sollberger holds over 30 years of experience in cement and concrete manufacturing companies. From 1992 to 2001, he occupied various positions at Holderbank Cement und Beton. Until 2006, he worked as the manager of the technical centre of Holcim Switzerland and later as a plant director, also in Switzerland. He also holds managerial experience at Jura Group. Since 2020, he has held the role of Chief Operations Director at Landqart. Sollberger is a graduate from the University of Applied Sciences Zurich and the University of Applied Sciences Bern.
Turkey: Fernas Group has acquired Çimsa Çimento’s 1Mt/yr Kayseri and 1.2Mt/yr Niğde integrated cement plants and Ankara grinding plant, as well as ready-mix concrete assets in Aksaray, Ambar, Basakpinar, Cirgalan, Ereğli, Nevsehir and Kahramanmaras. Reuters News has reported the pre-tax value of the deal as US$110m.
Çimsa Çimento’s sales rise by 80% to Euro240m in 2021
02 March 2022Turkey: Çimsa Çimento revenue grew by 80% year-on-year to Euro240m in 2021 from Euro133m in 2020. Its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) grew by 46% to Euro41.4m from Euro28.5m. The subsidiary of Sabancı Holding says that 54% of its sales in 2021 came from foreign sales. However, it noted that its production energy costs increased by 94%. It also reported that its alternative fuels substitution rate hit 15%.
“In July 2021 we took over the Buñol Factory in Valencia, Spain with Cimsa Sabancı Cement. With the addition of the Buñol Factory to our production and distribution network, we have strengthened our export network and expanded our sphere of influence in Europe, North Africa and South America,” said chief executive officer Umut Zenar. With the acquisition of the white cement plant in Spain, Çimsa Çimento says it has become one of the largest white cement producers in the world.
Çimko Çimento to acquire Çimsa assets for US$127m
29 September 2021Turkey: Sanko Holding subsidiary Çimko Çimento has agreed to acquire several assets from Sabanci Holding subsidiary Çimsafor US$127m. The Dünya newspaper has reported that the deal covers two cement plants – the Nigde plant and Kayseri plant – the Ankara grinding plant and seven ready-mix concrete plants.
Mexico: Cemex has closed the sale of its white cement business outside of Mexico and the US for US$155m to Turkey-based Çimsa Çimento. The assets sold include the company’s Buñol white cement plant in Valencia, Spain. The group said that the proceeds from the sale would be used to fund its bolt-on investment growth strategy in its core businesses and geographies, and contribute to debt reduction.
Spain: Cementos Molins has completed the acquisition of a white cement terminal in the Port of Alicante from Turkey-based Çimsa. The unit includes a 10,000t silo and it will be able to supply over 50,000t/yr from the site. The producer also plans to use the terminal to bolster exports from its 0.7Mt/yr integrated white cement plant at Kairaouan in Tunisia, which is operated by subsidiary Société Tuniso-Andalouse de Ciment Blanc (SOTACIB). It distributes products from this plant to over 15 countries.