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Interesting move from HeidelbergCement this week with the news that it has agreed to buy a cement plant in Tanzania. The Germany-based multinational producer has signed a deal to buy a 68% stake in Tanga Cement from South Africa-based AfriSam. There has been no indication of the price but the arrangement will give HeidelbergCement a 1.3Mt/yr integrated plant in the north of the country along with a limestone quarry with reserves to last 30 years. The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2022. HeidelbergCement says it then hopes to buy the remaining shares in the company.

HeidelbergCement already operates one integrated plant in Tanzania, Tanzania Portland Cement’s (TPC) Wazo Hill Plant in the capital Dar es Salaam. It took control of the plant in the early 2000s when its subsidiary Scancem International purchased over half of the company’s shares. The plant commissioned a new cement mill in 2014 to increase its production capacity to 2Mt/yr. Local press reported in April 2021 that the subsidiary planned to invest US$15m towards modernising the unit in 2021. It sells cement under the Twiga brand.

Tanga Cement runs a plant near Tanga that was originally commissioned in 1980. Holcim took it over in the mid-1990s before South-Africa based AfriSam assumed control in the early 2010s. The plant commissioned a second production line in 2016 and it has a production capacity of 1.3Mt/yr. It sells cement under the Simba brand.

HeidelbergCement’s decision to buy a plant in Tanzania is noteworthy because it goes against the general trend in acquisitions by western-based multinational cement companies in recent years. Instead of shrinking away from markets in developing economies and doubling-down on ‘safe havens’ in mature markets it has bought a plant in a developing country. Although one might argue that it does fit the definition of a well-chosen bolt-on acquisition.

Graph 1: Cement production in Tanzania, 2011 – 2020. Source: Tanzania National Bureau of Statistics.

As Graph 1 above shows, cement production in Tanzania has more than doubled over the last decade, from 2.4Mt in 2011 to 6.5Mt in 2020. Tanzania Portland Cement estimated local demand at 5.9Mt, including exports, in 2020. This was against a total cement production capacity, from both integrated and grinding plants, of 11Mt/yr. As well as the TPC and Tanga Cement plants mentioned above, Holcim runs an integrated plant in Mbeya and Huaxin Cement operates one near Tanga. Alongside this, new integrated plants have opened including Lake Cement’s 0.5Mt/yr Kimbiji plant in 2014 and Dangote Cement’s 3Mt/yr Mtwara plant in 2015. The big project on the horizon is a proposed 7Mt/yr integrated plant from China-based CNBM/Sinoma, although not much has been heard publicly about it since mid-2020. At that time local press was reporting that compensation was being finalised for residents of the proposed site near Tanga. Needless to say, given the size of the plant compared to the Tanzanian cement market, much of the plant’s output is intended for export.

With the CNBM plant in mind, it is noteworthy that HeidelbergCement committed to buying an extra plant in the country. Production has been going up over the last decade to presumably meet demand but the new Chinese project could potentially blot out the entire existing production. Tanzania faced a cement shortage at the end of 2020 despite coronavirus. TPC has repeatedly warned of production overcapacity in Tanzania and the challenges of competition. Yet it reported a new sales record in 2020 and growth of 7% in the national cement market. Despite a 5Mt overcapacity, TPC says it managed to adapt to the new market conditions. It also managed to grow its operating profit by 20% year-on-year to around US$46m in 2020 compared to HeidelbergCement Group’s 8% rise in results from current operations in 2020. This kind of return no doubt helped HeidelbergCement to make up its mind.

UK: The Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA) has elected Jan Jenisch as its president. He takes up the role with immediate effect and succeeds outgoing president, Albert Manifold, the chief executive officer (CEO) of CRH. As the first president of GCCA, Manifold oversaw its founding as a global platform for the concrete and cement industry and its work to unite the sector around the launch of its 2050 global roadmap to net zero concrete.

Jenisch was appointed CEO of Holcim (then LafargeHolcim) in 2017, having previously been CEO of Sika. He was also elected to the board of directors of Holcim in 2021. As president of the GCCA Jenisch will oversee the implementation of GCCA’s 2050 roadmap to net zero concrete, launched earlier in October 2021.

Jan Jenisch, GCCA President and CEO of Holcim said: “The net zero roadmap is exactly the collective endeavour that the association was established to deliver. Together we have set out a positive vision for how the cement and concrete industry will play a major role in building the sustainable world of tomorrow. With my board member peers, I look forward to overseeing the key progress we will make along that pathway, turning our vision and commitment into a reality.”

Peru: Yura has appointed Fernando Rojasa as its general manager. He succeeds Julio Cáceres who was working the position on a provisional basis, according to the Gestión newspaper.

Rojas, a Costa Rican national, holds a degree in chemical engineering and a Master in Business Administration from the University of Costa Rica. He worked for Cemex for over a decade becoming the director of operations for cement and lime in Puerto Rico and then the director of sustainability optimisation for Central America and the Caribbean.

Cáceres, who worked as Yura's Commercial Management Manager for Cement, has been appointed as the new Commercial Director of Cementos, Concretos y Cal in Peru, Chile and Bolivia.

France/US: Fortera has appointed Thierry Legrand as the president of its European region. The company said that the addition of a president in Europe was the first step in creating a broader presence allowing for Fortera's carbon reducing cement to be deployed on a global scale.

Legrand previously worked for Lafarge and Holcim for over 25 years in European, Asian and African markets. During this time he became the country chief executive officer (CEO) in South Africa and Malaysia before finally becoming the Project Director Logistic Europe for LafargeHolcim between 2018 and 2020. Legrand follows former LafargeHolcim CEO Eric Olsen in joining Fortera. Olsen was appointed to Fortera’s board of directors in June 2021.

Read more about Fortera in the October 2021 issue of Global Cement Magazine

Russia: Kavkazcement has announced that it will use its Kavkaz cement plant's annual shutdown in the winter of 2021 - 2022 to upgrade the plant's raw materials mills and kiln lines. The Eurocement subsidiary plans to spend US$7.14m on the work, which also includes the replacement of burners in kilns 2 and 4 and the installation of new drying drums, compressors and electrostatic precipitators. The upgrade will increase the 3Mt/yr plant's cement capacity by 10% and its clinker capacity by 30%. Managing director Vladimir Sokoltsov said that the upgrade focused on minimising the plant's environmental impacts.

Sokoltsov said “We will prepare the plant for the high construction season in April 2022. Our products are used in the construction of the largest industrial, transport and municipalinfrastructure in southern Russia." He continued "We understand that the quality of life of a large number of people depends on the pace of our work.”

Zimbabwe: Lafarge Zimbabwe says that a ‘critical’ incident occurred at its Manresa plant in Harare on 11 October 2021 when the roof collapsed over a cement mill. It reported no fatalities or injuries. However, the subsidiary of Switzerland-based Holcim warned that the incident might have an impact on its business performance for the last quarter of 2021. It added that it had already started taking action to repair the structure and restart the mills.

The Herald Zimbabwe newspaper reports that there has been a “general low visibility of the company’s cement in the market.” It added that the company started building a new cement mill at the plant in March 2021 with an expected commissioning date of March 2022.

Switzerland: Jura Cement has installed a PREMAS 4.0 continuous monitoring system supplied by Aumund at its Wildegg cement plant. The system informs operators about the condition of the equipment used in cement production at the plant in real time via the PREMAS Cloud. It also provides service life estimates for critical components.

The Wildegg plant previously hosted a prototype PREMAS 4.0 in early 2020.

Head of Maintenance Ramona Keller said “We are convinced that predictive maintenance has a future. With PREMAS 4.0, we can better plan spare parts and maintenance, which has a positive effect on resources and costs. The PREMAS Portal is easy to use and very clear. It enables us to recognise immediately where there is a need for action, regardless of time and place."

Watch out for more on this project in the forthcoming December 2021 issue of Global Cement Magazine

Colombia: Cementos Argos has announced its new commitment to reduce the CO₂ emissionsfrom its cement operations by 29% over a period ending in 2030. The company has additionally committed to producing all of its concrete CO₂-neutrally by 2050. It said that its strategy will comprise several carbon mitigation techniques, including maximised alternative fuel (AF) substitution, clinker factor reduction, energy optimisation, clean technology upgrades and a diversification of its range of its cement range to include more sustainable products.

Chief executive officer Juan Calle said "We are determined to face this important challenge and we are convinced that we can build the future we have planned and achieve a more prosperous, inclusive and low-carbon world if we work together with determination to accelerate this transition." He added "We will continue to strive to implement tangible actions, achieve measurable progress each year and deliver information about out opportunities and progress transparently."

Croatia: LafargeHolcim Croatia has successfully commissioned a continuous mercury monitoring system in the stack of its Koromačno cement plant in Istria. Gasmet supplied the system via its regional distributor RACI.

LafargeHolcim Croatia Production Engineer Ivan Marićsaid “The product gives us exactly what we want – peace of mind. We now know where we stand with our mercury emissions.”

India: Wonder Cements has dispatched cement from its Nardana, Maharashtra, grinding plant via a new rail route to Ahmednagar, also in Maharashtra. The Free Press Journal newspaper has reported that Wonder Cement plans to extend its use of the route 'in the near future' to send cement by rail to Mumbai Port. Western Railway's Mumbai Division expects to receive revenues of US$26,700/yr for use of its services. At its current rates, this would equate to annual deliveries of 383t.