Displaying items by tag: Colacem
Colacem planning US$200m cement plant in Paraguay
21 June 2019Paraguay: Italy’s Colacem is planning to build a US$200m cement plant at San Alfredo. It also wants to build a port terminal at the site, according to the ABC Color newspaper. The project is contingent on obtaining environmental permits. Construction work is scheduled to start in 2020 with commissioning in 2022.
Italy: Colacem’s Spoleto cement plant has been idled. The kiln has been shut down and quarrying work suspended, according to La Nazione newspaper. The integrated plant was acquired by Colacem from Cemitaly in early April 2019. Union representatives from the plant have asked Colacem what its business plans and staffing levels will be. Currently the plant employs 80 people.
Update on Italy - 2019
10 April 2019More movement in Italy this week with Buzzi Unicem’s purchase of three cement plants from HeidelbergCement. Buzzi acquired the Testi integrated cement plant at Greve and the Borgo San Dalmazzo and Arquata Scrivia grinding plants in Piedmont. No value for the transaction was disclosed but HeidelbergCement trumpeted that it was ‘well on our way’ to reach its target of Euro1.5bn of disposals by the end of 2020. This follows last week’s purchase of Cemitaly's Spoleto cement plant in Perugia by Colacem. Cemitaly, in case readers don’t know, is another of HeidelbergCement’s Italian subsidiaries.
Upon completion of these deals, Buzzi Unicem will own 10 integrated plants and five grinding plants in Italy. It continues the company’s consolidation drive in Italy from mid-2017 when it bought Cementizillo and two of its integrated plants for the knock down price of up to Euro125m.
The two other leading cement producers are now Germany’s HeidelbergCement with its local subsidiaries (led by Italcementi) and Colacem. HeidelbergCement has 10 integrated plants and 10 grinding plant. Colacem has seven integrated plants and one grinding plant. All three companies have integrated production capacities of around 9 – 14Mt/yr. Since 2012 the market has shifted from six major producers to three. Sacci, Cementir and Cemenzillo have left the field following acquisitions by their competitors. Italcementi was taken over by HeidelbergCement in 2016.
Graph 1: Cement production in Italy, 2006 – 2017. Source: Italian Cement Association (AITEC).
Data from the Italian Cement Association (AITEC) shows that the impetus for this consolidation trend was the reduction in Italian cement production to 19.3Mt in 2017 from a high of 47.9Mt in 2006. Despite this though the country still has a total production capacity of 37.7Mt/yr, according to Global Cement Directory 2019 data, giving it an utilisation rate of just over 50%. Production picked up again in the north and central regions of Italy in 2017 but this was insufficient to counter declines in the south and Italy’s islands. Exports have held steady in this time at around 2 – 3Mt/yr but this represents a doubling share of production from 5% in 2006 to 10% in 2017. Production has been steadily dwindling year-on-year since 2006 but domestic consumption rallied a little to 18.7Mt in 2017.
The Italian government instituted its ‘Industry 4.0’ policy in early 2017 to boost competitiveness. This included modest growth forecasts of 1%. International Monetary Fund (IMF) data shows that the country managed gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 0.9% in 2018. Yet, Buzzi Unicem reported like-for-like net sales contraction of 0.9% in 2018. HeidelbergCement was more circumspect in its reporting on Italy for 2018 but it did describe a ‘moderate’ increase in sales volumes of cement excluding its acquisitions.
With the IMF diagnosing the Italian economy as ‘weak’ and cutting its growth forecast to 0.1% in 2019 the prospects aren’t looking encouraging for the cement sector. AITEC data placed cement consumption at 309t/capita in 2017. This is on the low side for Western European standards suggesting that, although more consolidation could be coming, the market may also be down too. Its not great news for cement producers but the Italian market is edging ever closer to recovery.
Colacem buys Cemitaly's Spoleto cement plant
03 April 2019Italy: Colacem says has purchased Cemitaly's Spoleto cement plant in Perugia. No value for the transaction has been disclosed, according to the Il Sole 24 Ore newspaper. Colacem said that it was confident that the cement sector will have a ‘significant’ role in the future. HeidelbergCement’s subsidiary Italcementi acquired Cementir and the Spoleto plant in 2017. In February 2019 unions at the plant were told that the cement producer was selling it to the newly-created company Spoleto Cementir.
Colacem to restructure ownership of Ragusa cement plant
17 January 2019Italy: Colacem plans to restructure its ownership of its Ragusa cement plant in Sicily as a separate subsidiary. The final closure of its former Modica plant, also in Sicily, will take place on 1 March 2019, according to the Mercati Finanziari newspaper. 14 employees will be transferred from the Modica site to Ragusa.
Canada: Environmental groups including Nature Canada, Ontario Nature, Nature Quebec and the VanKleek Hill and District Nature Society have called on Environment and Climate Change Minister Catherine McKenna to start a review of the proposed Colacem Canada L’Orignal cement plant in Ontario. The groups have received a response from the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency (CEAA) saying that their concerns had been acknowledged and that it was providing advice to the minister, according to the National Observer. Colacem hopes to build a 3000t/day plant next to a limestone quarry it already operates.
Colacem buys Maddaloni plant from Italcementi
04 June 2018Italy: Colacem has purchased the Maddaloni cement plant from Italcementi. The transaction was part of the measures requried by the Italian Competition Authority when Italcementi acquired Cementir.
Appeals to Italian competition regulator deferred until June 2018
13 November 2017Italy: Appeals by Italian cement producers to the judiciary of Lazio against fines imposed by the Italian Competition Authority (AGCM) has been deferred to June 2018. Italcementi, Buzzi Unicem, Colacem, Cementir, Sacci, Holcim, Cementirossi, Barbetti, Cementeria di Monselice, Cementizillo, Calme, Moccia, TSC and the Italian Cement Association (AITEC) were penalised more than Euro184m in July 2017 for allegedly coordinating sales prices and agreeing market share from June 2011 to January 2016, according to the ANSA news agency. The majority of the fine was levied on Italcementi and Buzzi Unicem at around Euro84m and Euro60m respectively. Itacementi started appealing against the sanctions in August 2017.
Local government votes against Colacem plant project in Ontario
26 January 2017Canada: The Champlain Township council in Ontario has voted against planning changes to allow Colacem to build a cement plant in nearby L’Orignal. However, the United Counties of Prescott and Russell have voted in favour of the project, according to the Review newspaper. The cement producer requires approval from both bodies in order to proceed with the project. It wants to build a 3000t/day cement plant at the site next to a limestone quarry it already operates.
Italy: The Italian Competition Authority (AGCM) has decided to extend its investigation of the Italian Cement Association (AITEC) and cement producers including Italcementi, Colacem and Sacci. The AGCM has been looking into alleged coordinated increased in cement prices over the past six months. The regulator has now extended its inquiries until May 2017 due to ‘suspicious’ behaviour. The inspections have revealed that simultaneous price rises and similar sales prices communicated to customers in advance has been in practice by the companies being investigated and other players in the sector.