Displaying items by tag: Ecuador

Holcim Mexico has been promoting itself as the lynchpin of the group’s growth in Latin America this week. The move makes sense following the spin-off of Holcim’s North America business in late June 2025. The company says that Mexico has a housing deficit, has the highest profitability margin in Latin America and it is leading the transformation toward circular and low-carbon construction.

The bullseye on Latin America was first planted by Holcim in the group’s NextGen Growth 2030 strategy that was released in March 2025. With the company preparing to separate off its most profitable section in the US, it decided to highlight new reasons for investors to stay interested. The summary was ‘focused investment’ in attractive markets in Latin America, Europe, North Africa and Australia, sustainability-driven growth with demolition materials singled out and an emphasis on the building solutions division. Although the Latin America division supplied the smallest geographical share of new group net sales in 2024 (US$3.9bn, 19%), the profitability metric presented, recurring earnings before interest and taxation (EBIT) margin, gave the region the highest result. Or in other words, Holcim is telling investors that it may have divested North America but it still has business south of the Rio Grande… and it looks promising. It then said that it has the ‘best’ geographical coverage and vertical integration in the region and the largest construction materials retail franchise in the form of Disensa.

Understandably, the likes of Cemex, Cementos Argos, Votorantim and others might take exception to some of this. For example, Cemex reported net sales in excess of US$6bn in Latin America and the Caribbean, and Votorantim reported net sales of around US$4.8bn in 2024. Yet, Holcim’s claim of regional spread does carry some weight. It purchased Comacsa and Mixercon in Peru and assets from Cemex in Guatemala in 2024. At the end of the year the group owned integrated cement plants in Argentina, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico and Peru. Plus it held grinding plants in the French Antilles and Nicaragua. All of these are majority-owned subsidiaries, often also with aggregate, ready-mixed concrete and building systems businesses. Holcim may have sold up in Brazil in 2022 but it still holds a relatively intact network in Latin America.

Graph 1: Grey cement production in Mexico, 2020 - April 2025, rolling 12 months. Source: National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI).

As for the market, Holcim reported modest but growing net sales in Latin America in 2024, despite lower sales volumes plus elections in Mexico, economic issues in Argentina and political instability in Ecuador. Focusing on Mexico, local cement volumes were said to be stable, aided by a recovery in bagged cement in spite of bulk sales falling on the back of fewer infrastructure projects. Holcim Mexico also spent US$55m on building a new grinding unit at its integrated Macuspana plant in Tabasco. Once complete, the update will increase the site’s capacity by 0.5Mt/yr to 1.5Mt/yr.

Cemex, the market leader in Mexico, released more direct information. It saw its sales and operating earnings fall in 2024. This was blamed on a poor second half to the year following the presidential election in June 2024. GCC’s sales fell more sharply in 2024 and this was blamed on “energy infrastructure limitations and permitting delays in Juarez.” So far in 2025, in the first quarter, the pain in Mexico for the construction sector has continued, with both Cemex and GCC noting strong falls in cement volumes and sales due to a slowdown in industrial demand. Holcim has not reported on Mexico directly so far in 2025 only saying that sales have risen in local currencies in Latin America as a whole in the first quarter. Cemex started a cost cutting exercise in February 2025 in response to the situation. Graph 1 above shows Mexican cement production. Although it should be noted that Cemex and GCC still run subsidiaries in the US. Holcim now does not. Rolling 12-month cement production figures in Mexico started falling in September 2024 and continued to do so until April 2025, the date of the latest data provided by the National Institute of Statistics and Geography.

Despite falling volumes though, the price of cement in Mexico remains high by international standards. At the start of July 2025 the National Association of Independent Businessmen (ANEI) raised the alarm that distributors had warned of an 8% price rise on the way. It’s in this environment that news stories such as Bolivia-based Empresa Pública de Cementos Bolivia (ECEBOL), a producer in a landlocked and mountainous country, preparing to export clinker to Mexico from July 2025 start to sound credible. Sales may have been down in Mexico in 2024 but earnings and margins remain high. In the medium-to-longer term the country looks even more promising, with plenty of scope for development and building products. Ditto the rest of Latin America.

One way a multinational heavy building materials company with a presence in sustainability-obsessed Europe might gain an advantage in the region is by using its knowledge to capture the easier decarbonisation routes first. This is exactly the route Holcim and Holcim Mexico seem to be taking by promoting lower carbon cement and concrete products, and by growing the recycling of demolition materials. Another option, of course, is that Holcim is bolstering its Latin America division ahead of a potential divestment. Either way, Holcim is presenting a plan for growth in its new form, shorn of North America. It’s all to play for.

Ecuador: Holcim Ecuador has appointed Ivanoff Rojas as production manager at its Guayaquil cement plant.

Rojas previously held a number of production roles for Cementos Pacasmayo in Peru from 2012 to early 2025. Prior to this he worked for companies including Cementera del Perú, Cementos Selva, Cementos Tequendama and Sika Perú. He trained as a chemical engineer at the Universidad Nacional del Callao and holds a master’s degree in engineering from the Tecnológico de Monterrey.

Mexico: Holcim Mexico has appointed Jorge González Mateu as its chief financial officer (CFO). He previously worked as the Head of Controlling and the Deputy CFO for Holcim Mexico. González Mateu has worked for Holcim group since 2013 with similar financial roles for Holcim Ecuador, as well as other related positions for the group in Spain and Switzerland. Prior to this he worked for Tarmac in Spain.

Ecuador: Saint-Gobain has entered into an agreement to acquire a majority stake in IMPTEK Chova del Ecuador, a producer of waterproofing construction chemicals. When the deal completes it will be France-based company’s first manufacturing presence in the country. IMPTEK sells its products locally but also exports to several Latin and Central American countries. The completion of the transaction is subject to approval by competition authorities and expected in the first half of 2024. No value for the purchase has been disclosed.

Peru: Unacem recorded consolidated sales of US$380m during the first quarter of 2023, corresponding to year-on-year growth of 2.6%. Despite this, the producer's earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell by 7.4% to US$105m. Unacem attributed its sales growth to 'strong' cement sales volumes in the US, as well as increased prices across its markets. The domestic Peruvian market contributed US$247m (65%) of Unacem's sales, up by 0.5% year-on-year. Peruvian cement volumes fell by 8%, while high fuel costs there contributed to a local decline in earnings.

Looking ahead to the full 2023 financial year, Unacem CEO Pedro Lerner expects the group's consolidated sales to rise year-on-year. He forecast a 10% drop in Peruvian cement volumes to 6Mt. Lerner said that the company is 'monitoring events' in neighbouring Ecuador, but considers it inevitable that on-going political disturbances will 'affect economic conditions' in the market.

Ecuador: Encapsulation in concrete served to destroy 110t of cocaine in Ecuador during the first nine months of 2022. The figure corresponds to 61% of cocaine seized by authorities during the period. Local press reported that the mixed slurry forms strong precast concrete elements, from which the cocaine is impossible to extract. Encapsulation accelerates destruction of the drug by a factor of 20 compared to incineration, with removal rates of up to 1500kg/hr.

Ecuadorian cocaine seizures at ports alone increased by 42% year-on-year throughout 2022, necessitating the operational improvements in disposal methods.

Cemento Yura said it was considering expanding cement and lime production this week. The announcement, made in an interview to business newspaper Gestión, follows a strong second quarter for the subsidiary of Grupo Gloria with clinker production volumes jumping up by 36% year-on-year to 0.51Mt. Overall for the half-year its clinker and cement production rose by 12.8% year-on-year to 0.86Mt and 12.7% to 1.47Mt. The success was attributed to consistent demand from the domestic sector as well as various large-scale mining projects. Julio Cáceres, the commercial director for its Cement, Concrete and Lime Division in Peru, Chile and Bolivia, wouldn’t say where the company was considering heading next, other than that remarking that it was attentive to new markets.

As Cáceres’ job title implies Cemento Yura also operates cement plants outside of Peru. At home it runs one integrated plant in the south of the country near to Arequipa as well as a lime plant at Juliaca. Outside of Peru though it also runs two integrated plants and a grinding unit in Bolivia, via its Sociedad Boliviana de Cemento (SOBOCE) subsidiary, and two integrated plants in Ecuador, via its Union Cementera Nacional (UCEM) subsidiary. The company also has assorted concrete assets. The international aspect to Cemento Yura’s business is interesting given that the larger cement producers in Peru are dominant in different parts of the country with Cementos Pacasmayo in the north, UNACEM (Unión Andina de Cementos) in the centre around Lima and Cemento Yura in the south. Notably, UNACEM also runs a plant in Ecuador and one in Arizona, US. It is also worth mentioning that competition issues have been reported in the local market previously. In mid-2021 Peru’s competition authority, the National Institute of the Defense of Competition and Intellectual Property Protection (INDECOPI), investigated Cemento Yura.

Cemento Yura’s rise in clinker production in the second quarter of 2022 is worth considering because in a previous interview with the local press Humberto Nadal, the chief executive officer of Cementos Pacasmayo, said that importing clinker had become more expensive in 2021. Subsequently, the company started a US$70m upgrade at its Pacasmayo plant to increase its production capacity by 0.6Mt/yr. In its second quarter financial results for 2022 Cementos Pacasmayo directly credited a 27% increase in its earnings on higher operating profits arising from decreasing costs by using less imported clinker. Sure enough data from Association of Cement Producers (ASOCEM) shows that both cement and clinker imports started to fall in October 2021 and have mostly followed a downward trend since then. Clinker imports fell by 41% year-on-year to 0.66Mt from January to August 2022 compared to the same period in 2021.

Graph 1: Cement production in Peru, 2014 – present. Source. Association of Cement Producers (ASOCEM).

Looking at the wider picture in Peru, cement production has stayed fairly consistent since 2014 at around 10Mt/yr. An upward trend probably started in 2019 but then the Covid-19 pandemic cut it off in the first half of 2022 before the market surged back in the second half of that year. 2021 was a good year with production peaking at 12.9Mt. So far the first eight months of 2022 have seen production rise by 5.3% year-on-year to 8.64Mt.

In summary, cement production is rising in Peru, importing clinker appears to have become more expensive for at least one of the producers and some of the larger local companies are investing in new production capacity, considering it or thinking about acquisitions elsewhere. Local clinker producers appear to be in a good place; clinker importers, or those reliant on it, not so much.

Ecuador: Holcim Ecuador has launched its new portfolio of ECOPlanet reduced CO₂ cements. The products bear the new green and blue branding of the Holcim group.

CEO Dolores Prado said that the company began its green transition with the September 2019 carbon neutral certification of its Agrovial, Base Vial and Maestro cements.

Ecuador: Holcim Ecuador has despatched its first export shipment of bulk cement to the Peruvian market. The volume of this shipment was 32,700t and it was loaded in 2t Big Bags. Holcim Ecuador says that it invested US$2.2m in establishing the infrastructure to realise this achievement.

Switzerland: Holcim’s consolidated sales rose by 16% year-on-year to Euro18.7bn in the first nine months of 2021 from Euro16.1bn in the first nine months of 2020. The company’s recurring earnings before interest and taxation (EBIT) rose by 33% to Euro3.3bn from Euro2.48bn. Its operating profit rose by 38% to Euro3.11bn from Euro2.26bn.

The group increased its cement sales by 7.8% to 150Mt from 139Mt. Volumes in Asia Pacific were 51.7Mt, up by 17% from 44.2Mt; volumes in Europe were 35Mt, up by 4.1% from 33.7Mt; volumes in Middle East Africa were 27.2Mt, up by 11% from 24.5Mt; volumes in Latin America were 20.5Mt, up by 18% from 17.3Mt and volumes in North America were 15.1Mt, up by 1.5% from 14.9Mt.

CEO Jan Jenisch said “I’m pleased that we have achieved a record quarter of profitable growth once again. I congratulate my teams for their exceptional resilience as they continue to successfully navigate the challenges posed by the pandemic in a dynamic business environment. On the back of their performance we have revised our recurring EBIT growth guidance from 18% to at least 22% on a like-for-like basis.” He continued “Most importantly, our colleagues have kept their focus on our key long-term value creation drivers to become the global leader in innovative and sustainable building solutions. We are picking up momentum in our strategic portfolio transformation, with the divestment of our business in Brazil, the announcement of nine bolt-on acquisitions so far this year and the expansion of our Firestone GacoFlex range from Mexico to Colombia and Ecuador.”