Displaying items by tag: HeidelbergCement

Germany: HeidelbergCement has signed the Science-Based Targets Initiative’s (SBTi) Business Ambition for 1.5°C commitment and joined the United Nations (UN) Framework Convention on Climate Change Race to Zero campaign. The former entails a commitment to limiting global warming to 1.5°C and achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050. Race to Zero membership entails a positive commitment to beginning the transition to a decarbonised economy before the UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties in November 2021.

Chair Dominik von Achten said “As one of the world's leading building materials producers, we are continuously increasing our efforts in the global fight against climate change. We are working on all levels to reach climate neutrality – within our operations as well as through associations and initiatives such as the Race To Zero campaign. Every effort brings us closer to our goal.”

Georgia: HeidelbergCement Georgia plans to invest in additional grinding capacity at both of its cement plants. The subsidiary of Germany-based HeidelbergCement says that it will complete expansion work at both plants by the 2022 production season. It is also contemplating the possibility of clinker capacity expansions.

In early July 2021, Georgia experienced a cement shortage due to the release of pent-up demand from infrastructure projects and reduced imports from Turkey and Azerbaijan.

Germany: Former HeidelbergCement executive director Rainer Nobis’ Illustrated History of Cement and Concrete is now available in hardback online. The book traces the development of artificially produced building materials over 12,000 years, describing both the technical sequence of events and the political and economic environments in which they took place.

An unnamed reviewer said "The book is outstanding and comes at the right time. It has never been more necessary to recall the positive contribution of cement and concrete to mankind or to make it explainable. [Nobis] has more than succeeded!"

Sweden: Cementa says that the decision by the Supreme Land and Environmental Court to reject its renewal application to continue mining limestone at its quarries in Gotland will create a ‘crisis’ for consumers in the autumn of 2021. The quarries supply its integrated Slite cement plant. The producer said that the ‘majority’ of Swedish cement production could cease in November 2021 following the expiry of the current licence in October 2021.

“We are seriously concerned but also surprised by the court's ruling today,” said Magnus Ohlsson, the chief executive officer of Cementa. “Limestone has been mined in Slite for over 100 years, which has built up a huge knowledge bank about how the business affects the surrounding environment. Our application is solid and clearly shows that it is possible to conduct a continued sustainable limestone mining in the area. We must go through the decision carefully and then set up the strategy for how we will handle the situation,” He added, “For Sweden, our customers and for us and our employees, it is important that political decision-makers and authorities quickly draw up new guidelines for how the supply of critical building materials such as cement and concrete should work.”

The subsidiary of Germany-based HeidebergCement originally received clearance in 2020 to renew its mining operations at the site until 2041. However, this was subsequently challenged. The current decision by the Supreme Land and Environmental Court was reached as they said they had insufficient evidence to assess the environmental impact of the application.

Tanzania: Tanzania Portland Cement recorded an increase in turnover of 13% year-on-year to US$170m in 2020 from US$150m in 2019. The Daily News newspaper has reported that the company’s net profit for the year was US$31.9m, up by 25% year-on-year from US$25.4m in 2019. Its sales volumes of cement grew by 6% in 2020. Chair Hakan Gurdal attributed the results to increased cement volumes, level prices and controlled cost.

Gurdal said, “We achieved new records in production, dispatching and cement sales, following a volumes strategy to offset the general price downward trend of the past 10 years.” He added that the company remains ‘deeply involved’ in large infrastructure projects and that “The trend remains strong.” In 2020, national cement demand rose to 5.9Mt

By the end of 2021, Tanzania is expected to have a cement production capacity of 11Mt/yr.

UK: A fire at Hanson UK’s Padeswood cement plant was reported on 15 June 2021. Firefighters from the North Wales Fire and Rescue Service attended the scene and the blaze was extinguished, according to Deeside News. David Quick, plant manager, said that an investigation into the cause of the fire will follow in due course.

The latest piece of China-based Huaxin Cement’s global ambitions slotted into place this week with the news that it is preparing to buy plants in Zambia and Malawi. Its board of directors has approved plans to spend US$150m towards acquiring a 75% stake in Lafarge Zambia and US$10m on a 100% stake in Lafarge Cement Malawi. The move will gain it two integrated plants with a combined production capacity of 1.5Mt/yr in Zambia, and a 0.25Mt/yr grinding plant in Malawi.

This latest proposed acquisition represents the next step for Huaxin Cement in Africa following its purchase of African Tanzanian Maweni Limestone from ARM Cement in mid-2020. The company has also been busy along the more traditional Belt and Road Initiative land routes in Asia. It started up the kiln at its new 2Mt/yr Jizzakh cement plant in mid-2020. Elsewhere in Central Asia it runs two plants in Tajikistan and one plant in Kyrgyzstan via various indirectly-owned subsidiaries. While in South Asia it runs a plant in Nepal and in South-East Asia it runs one in Cambodia. If the plans in Zambia and Malawi pay off then it will give the Chinese producer a growing presence in East Africa, with plants in three countries.

The China Cement Association ranked Huaxin Cement as the country’s fifth largest clinker producer in 2021 with an integrated capacity base of just under 63Mt/yr. Domestically, the company operates 57 cement plants and most of these are based in the Yangtze River Economic Belt region. In 2020 it reported cement and clinker sales of 76Mt, a small decrease from 2019. Its operating income fell by 6.6% year-on-year to US$4.58bn and profit dropped by 12% to US$1.2bn. This performance was blamed on the emergence of Covid-19 at the start of 2020 and then floods later in the year.

Compared to the other larger Chinese cement producers, Huaxin Cement roughly appears to be holding rank with its overseas expansions. The leaders, CNBM and Anhui Conch, hold subsidiaries with plants in South-East and Central Asia and CNBM’s engineering wing, Sinoma, has a far bigger reach, building plants all over the place. Information has been scarce since mid-2020 on the long heralded 7Mt/yr plant in Tanzania due to be built by Sinoma and local subsidiary Hengya Cement. At that time local residents in Mtimbwani, Mkinga District were reportedly being compensated for their land. Other than this, one of the other big players internationally is Taiwan Cement. In 2018 it invested around US$1.1bn for a 40% stake in Turkey-based Oyak Cement. As well as a presence in Turkey this also gave it a share of plants in Portugal in 2019 when Oyak completed its acquisition of Cimpor.

Elsewhere this week, carrying some of the themes above with expansion in Central Asia, two new integrated cement plant projects were announced in Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan respectively. Meanwhile, Italcementi said it will invest Euro5.0m to restart clinker production at its Trentino cement plant in Sarche di Madruzzo, Italy. The unit has been operating as a grinding plant since 2015. This might be viewed as an unexpected decision considering the high local CO2 price but it shows some level of confidence in the local market by Italcementi and its parent company, HeidelbergCement. The next step will be when or if a European producer decides to build a brand new integrated plant in Italy or elsewhere.

Germany: Data from HeidelbergCement’s Sustainability Report 2020 reveals that it reduced its specific net CO₂ emissions by 2% year-on-year to 576kg/t of cementious material in 2020 from 589 kg/t in 2019. This represents a 23% reduction since 1990. The company has a target of 30% by 2025. It has a number of carbon capture and utilisation/storage (CCU/S) projects in various stages of development to meet its goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2050. Other data shows that its alternative fuels substitution rate rose to 25.7% from 24% and its clinker ratio fell slightly to 74.3%.

During the reporting year, the group joined the climate lobbying group Foundation 2° and achieving a CDP climate protection rating of A. For water security it secured the second-highest rating of A-. The group’s specific water consumption for cement rose by 5% in 2020 to 271.9l/t of cement from 260l/t in 2019. However the company says it is continuing to improve water consumption reporting at its sites until 2025.

Italy: HeidelbergCement subsidiary Italcementi has announced a planned investment of Euro5.0m to restart clinker production at its Trentino cement plant in Sarche di Madruzzo. The plant will have an integrated production capacity of 0.25Mt/yr when it resumes full operation from January 2022. The company aims to establish a ‘reference plant for the Northeast’ at the facility. It will begin hiring 30 new staff in late 2021. The unit has been operating as a grinding plant since 2015.

Technical director Agostino Rizzo said, “The cement plant is equipped with the technologies necessary to guarantee high level environmental performance. To this will be added a landscape integration. The relationship with the region and local communities is of great importance for us.”

US: HeidelbergCement subsidiary Lehigh Cement and Keystone Cement have stepped away from an agreement to merge their businesses. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) voted to challenge the proposed merger in late May 2021.

FTC Bureau of Competition acting director Maribeth Petrizzi said, “This is great news for cement customers in eastern Pennsylvania and western New Jersey. The FTC voted 4-0 to challenge this transaction because it would have reduced the number of significant competitors in the market for grey Portland Cement in this region from four to three. I’m grateful to the bureau’s staff for their tireless efforts throughout this investigation, but also to our partners in the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office, who worked closely with us to ensure that cement customers in this region will continue to benefit from competition between Lehigh and Keystone.”