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Check out this great graph that the UK Mineral Products Association (MPA) released in its latest sustainable development report this week. It lays out where the MPA says the various direct and indirect costs come from climate change policies per tonne of cement.

Graph 1: The cumulative burden of direct and indirect cost of climate change policies on the cement sector (per tonne of cement). GBP£1 = Euro0.94 at time of writing. Source: MPA. 

If it’s correct then the two biggest contributors from carbon taxes on the price of cement in the UK arise from the Carbon Price Support (CPS) mechanism and the Renewable Obligation (RO). Between them the two policies account for around two-thirds of the carbon tax burden on the price of cement. Of note to an industry advocacy body like the MPA, both of these derive from local legislation and they could be changed or dispensed with separate to the Brexit negotiations to extricate the UK from the European Union that have just officially started.

The MPA then goes on to warn that these added costs could rise from GBP£3.24/t at present to GBP£4/t in 2020 and then the truly terrifying (to energy intensive manufacturers at least) GBP£17/t. Subsequently the MPA has flagged these potentially mounting costs as the biggest threat to the UK cement industry in the near future. Failure to act could mean more foreign imports, loss of jobs and damage to the security of supply. All very heavy stuff. The MPA’s warning was nicely timed to precede the UK government’s response to a consultation on another decarbonisation scheme, the Contracts for Difference (CfD) scheme. Here, the government is about to exempt high-energy users, including cement producers.

Essentially, the key message from the MPA’s report is that the cement sector is picking up but it is still below sales levels in 2007. At the same time it has made all these environmental improvements and, now, steadily tightening regulations threaten its future. Just compare this with the situation in the US where the Portland Cement Association (PCA) recently applauded President Donald Trump’s executive order to roll back environmental legislation from the Obama administration. Despite this it insisted that its members were committed to manufacturing products with a ‘minimal’ environmental footprint.

Funnily enough the MPA didn’t mention environmental issues when it released its updated Brexit priorities for the UK government. This is understandable given the graph above that suggests that the majority of the carbon costs on cement production come from UK legislation. However, sharing a land border with the EU south of Northern Ireland may give rise to all sorts of market skulduggery once any sort of post-Brexit deal becomes clear. And this doesn’t even take into account moving secondary cementitious materials about, like slag, or the UK’s international market in solid recovered fuels (SRF) and the like. Differences in UK and EU overall carbon costs on cement may start to have acute implications for producers in both jurisdictions as the negotiations build. In this atmosphere moves like Ireland’s Quinn Cement’s last month, to build a terminal on the UK side of the Irish border, make a lot of sense.

Nigeria: Adepeju Adebajo has resigned as an executive director of Lafarge Africa. Adebajo was the Managing Director, Wapco Operations and then Managing Director, Geo-Cycle and Project Management Office at Lafarge Africa. Her resignation from Lafarge follows her appointment as the Honourable Commissioner for Agriculture in Ogun State.

Rwanda: Prime Cement has signed a deal with Denmark’s FLSmidth to build a US$65m cement grinding plant in Musanze District, Northern Province. Gisele Bayigamba, the general manager of Milbridge Holding, a consortium that owns Prime Cement, said that construction of the unit will start in the third quarter of 2018, according to the New Times newspaper. The plant will have a cement production capacity of 0.7Mt/yr once operational. The project is also expected to create over 1500 jobs. A proposed second phase to the project will add an integrated clinker plant within the next five years.

FlSmidth added that the contract will become effective when FLSmidth receives a down payment from the customer, which is expected to happen later in 2017. The order includes a OK(TM) 27-4 vertical mill for cement grinding, filters, a control system and plant automation, a packing plant and weighing and metering systems. FLSmidth will also supply equipment from other FLSmidth brands, such as a planetary mill gear unit from FLSmidth MAAG Gear, filters from FLSmidth Airtech, a control system and plant automation from FLSmidth Automation, a packing plant from FLSmidth Ventomatic and weighing and metering systems from FLSmidth Pfister.

Italy: Cementir is preparing to pay extra for its purchase of Belgian cement maker Compagnie des Ciments Belges (CCB) that took place in the autumn of 2016. In the draft financial statement it said that it would have to pay an estimated additional amount, according to Radiocor news agency. However, no specific amount has been declared. Cementir paid Euro337m to Germany’s HeidelbergCement for CCB in October 2016.

India: The India Ratings and Research has blamed demonetisation and elections for a poor fourth quarter for cement producers in the 2017 Indian financial year. Cement production volumes fell by 15.8% year-on-year in February 2017 and by 5% on a month-on-month basis. India Ratings also attributed the decline to a strong equivalent quarter in the 2016 financial year.

It reported that volumes for the major cement producers contracted by 5% year-on-year in the third quarter. On a regional basis it fell by 3% and 6% for producers in central and northern regions. However, volumes rose sharply, by 21%, in the south. Growth in the southern region has been supported by increases in government spending in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

The agency also reported that changes announced by the Ministry of Railways, which requires long-term agreements and contracts for industries like cement, steel and fertilisers, could potentially drive demand for cement. The new policy will provide conditional discounts that could increase the transport of cement through the rail network and cement manufacturers will be able to control freight costs more effectively. However, the availability of wagons during peak periods might also constrain the policy.

Gabon: The workers union at CimGabon have held a press conference calling for state intervention in the local cement sector. They blamed ‘uncontrolled’ imports of cement for threatening the closure of the producer’s grinding plant at Owendo, according to the Binto Media Group. The calls for state action follow the suspension of investment by Ciments de l'Afrique (CIMAF) on an upgrade project at the plant. In 2014 the company shut down its clinker plant at Estuaire and its cement grinding plant at Franceville. Germany’s HeidelbergCement also has a stake in the producer.

India/Pakistan: Gebr. Pfeiffer has released information about orders for its mills for projects in India and Pakistan. In India Wonder Cement has ordered a MVR 6000 C-6 vertical roller mill from the company for its Nimbahera cement plant in Chittorgarh, Rajasthan. The mill will have a 5820kW drive and it will grind cement to a fineness of 4500 cm²/g according to Blaine. The mill can also be used to grind blended cement using slag, fly ash and gypsum.

Core components of the mill, including the rollers, will be supplied from Europe. The mill foundation parts, the housing and the integrated SLS 5600 BC classifier will be provided by Gebr. Pfeiffer India. Delivery of the mill is scheduled by the end of 2017.

In Pakistan Cherat Cement have ordered a MVR 6300 C-6 mill from Gebr. Pfeiffer for its cement plant in Cherat. The mill will grind 365t/hr of Ordinary Portland Cement to a fineness of 3200cm²/g according to Blaine. The MultiDrive will have a total output of 7800kW. Delivery is scheuled for 2018.

No price for any of the orders has been disclosed.

Germany: Currax is promoting its Integrated Drive System for use by conveyor belt systems in the raw material sector. The complete drive train uses components made by Siemens that are then tailored for a conveyor’s particular requirements. Parts of the system include: the Simotics FD Motor, a conveyor belt drive with a power range of 200 – 1800kW; the Flender B3SH Gear units that are avaialble in various sizes; and the Rupex Bolt coupling, an additonal element for conveyor belt drives that are use as elastic compensating couplings and that provides a torque range of 200 – 130,000Nm. Currax is an enginering company based in Hamburg that provides and distributes products for the drive chain.

Zimbabwe: China’s Livetouch Investments has started production at its 0.4Mt/yr cement grinding plant at Redcliff. Managing director and co-shareholder Dongning Wang said that the US$30m plant had started operation at 70% of its capacity, according to the Herald Business newspaper. The plant is expected to employ 200 workers once it is fully operational. The company markets its cement under the Diamond Masonry brand.

Although some work remains on the first phase of the project the second phase will see the construction of a clinker producing plant at the same site. The company is negotiating at present with the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development for access to limestone deposits. Work on the second phase is expected to start six to nine months after the mineral rights are secured.

Guatemala: Cemex has completed production and bagging line upgrades its Arizona cement grinding plant in the Port of San José. The project cost US$3.7m and it included the completion of a second bagging line, changes in lift capacity and the installation of new mill controls, according to the Prensa Libre newspaper. The upgrades are expected to increase the plant’s production capacity by about 10% to 545,000t/yr and to speed up bagging by 46% to 96t/hr.