Displaying items by tag: Import

US: The Portland Cement Association (PCA) has issued a statement following the US government’s announcement of proposed 25% tariffs on imports of cement from Canada and Mexico. The association lauded President Donald Trump’s stated goal of protecting the US cement industry, while also calling for careful consideration of measures to be taken.

President and CEO Mike Ireland said “While the US cement industry agrees with the President’s objectives of bolstering American manufacturing, increasing border security, and advancing the country’s energy independence, the industry believes 25% tariffs on cement imported from Canada and Mexico could adversely affect energy and national security while delaying infrastructure projects and raising their costs.” Ireland continued “The availability of affordable cement and concrete is vital to meet our country’s infrastructure needs and for the oil and gas sector’s expansion. Mexico and Canada play a crucial role in stabilizing US supply, so we appreciate that the administration is open to negotiations and taking a flexible approach to implementing trade policy.”

US: Holcim’s CEO Miljan Gutovic says he does not expect any effects of proposed US tariffs upon his company. "I don't really see any impact, because our business is a local business (in the US)," said Gutovic in an interview with Reuters. "We are producing locally, we are sourcing the equipment, the spare parts locally, so how is this going to affect us? I do not see it." He added that the proposed tariffs were also unlikely to pose any problems to the group’s planned spin-off of its business in the US. The listing of its North America-based business is remains scheduled for the first half of 2025.

The US government proposed tariffs upon imported goods from Canada and Mexico in early February 2025 but these have been paused for one month. Tariffs on China are set to start on 4 February 2025. US President Donald Trump has also spoken about implementing tariffs on the EU.

Poland: The Polish cement industry predicts a 5% increase in production in 2025, to nearly 18Mt, driven by anticipated economic growth and potential EU fund unblocking under a national recovery plan.

Poland's statistics office reported cement production of 16.5Mt at the end of November 2024, a 5.6% year-on-year increase. The main factor impacting Poland's cement production volume was a weak construction industry and a significant increase in imports from Ukraine. According to a report by EY Poland, cement imports from Ukraine increased from just 300t in 2015 to almost 0.33Mt in 2023. Ukraine's share of cement imports to Poland in 2023 reached 29%, almost equalling the volume of supplies from Germany.

PPC revealed plans this week to build a new cement plant in the Western Cape region of South Africa. It has entered into a “strategic cooperation agreement” with Sinoma Overseas Development Company to put together a 1.5Mt/yr integrated plant for around US$160m. It is hoped that construction will start in the second quarter of 2025 with commissioning scheduled by the end of 2026.

CEO Matías Cardarelli described more details about the project during a tie-in webcast on 16 January 2025. Specifically, the new unit will be built at the company’s integrated Riebeeck Plant site due to the quality of the local limestone and the greater reserves. In addition, all the key environmental approvals and mining rights have already been obtained. Both this plant, and the nearby De Hoek Plant, will continue to run throughout the construction and commissioning period. A decision will then be made about required staffing. PPC did not explicitly say whether the two old plants would be closed but the new plant will “replace and increase the existing capacity” at the other sites.

Points to note from the announcement start with the low cost for the clinker production line. PPC’s 1Mt/yr line at its Slurry plant cost around US$75m when it was commissioned in 2018. Sinoma also built that one. However, negative currency exchange effects make comparisons tricky. In 2015 PPC said that the cost of the Slurry line was around US$115/t. It pointed out that the price was low as it was a brownfield investment. This compares to US$107/t for the Western Cape project, another brownfield project. Other recent integrated plant projects in Sub-Saharan Africa to consider include Cemtech’s clinker plant in Sebit, Kenya (US$170/t) or West International Holding’s forthcoming plant in Buikwe District, Uganda (US$150/t). Plans for a new PPC plant in the Western Cape go back to at least 2017 when the then CEO Johan Claassen said it was preparing for a ‘mega plant.’ At the time it was hoping to replace its Riebeeck plant with a ‘semi-brownfield’ facility that would use around 25% of the current plant’s equipment. The scheme had actually been around longer but Claassen remarked that insufficient domestic demand had held it back.

The next detail to consider is that PPC is planning to build this new plant within 100km of the coast. This was addressed directly with PPC saying that the new plant would be “extremely competitive” against imports. They say it will be able to produce cement, at least, to a similar cost to imports from Vietnam. It was also remarked that only 10 - 15% of the 1Mt/yr of imports, mainly from Vietnam, go to the Western Cape with the rest heading to KwaZulu-Natal via the Port of Durban.

PPC’s plans in Riebeeck are part of its ‘Awaken the Giant’ development strategy. For its six month financial results statement to September 2024 it said that it had “early positive and encouraging signs in all lines of our business.” In South Africa its earnings were up despite lower sales volumes. Dangote Cement’s local subsidiary, Sephaku Holdings, reported a similar picture with a small bump in revenue and earnings back up after coal and fly ash supply constraints a year earlier. PPC isn’t the only cement company developing capacity. Huaxin Cement-owned Natal Portland Cement was reportedly investing US$65m in the autumn of 2024 towards expanding its Simuma Plant in KwaZulu-Natal.

The cement sector in South Africa had a couple of ownership changes in 2024. As mentioned above, China-based Huaxin Cement bought Natal Portland Cement from InterCement at the start of the year. Then, Afrimat received approval to buy Lafarge South Africa in April 2024. Both of these incomers have clear ambitions to expand in the industry. In this context PPC’s decision to finally revive its Western Cape plans, before whatever its new competitors devise, makes sense. Expect more talk of capacity upgrades in the future.

Peru: National cement despatches reached 0.97Mt in December 2024, a 0.1% year-on-year increase, according to the Cement Producers Association (Asocem). Total despatches in 2024 were nearly 12Mt, marking just a 0.01% rise compared to 2023, indicating stagnation in the sector.

Asocem members produced almost 0.92Mt of cement in December 2024, a 1% year-on-year decrease, and recorded a 3% decline in 2024 to 11Mt. Cement exports from members rose by 70% year-on-year in December 2024 to 0.13Mt, but fell by 8% for the full year. Imports increased to 3000t in December 2024, up by 22% year-on-year, and grew by 29% over 2024, with Chile as the sole supplier.

Clinker production by Asocem members dropped by 30% year-on-year in December 2024 to 0.66Mt, and by 8% over the 2024 period. No clinker was exported by Asocem members, a 100% year-on-year decrease from December 2023. Clinker imports surged by 376% year-on-year in December 2024 to 0.2Mt, sourced from South Korea (44%), Japan (24%), Ecuador (19%) and Turkey (13%).

Kyrgyzstan: Kyrgyzstan has lifted the temporary ban on the import of various types of cement. The Cabinet of Ministers signed a resolution to allow the import of Portland cement, aluminous cement, slag cement and similar hydraulic cements, in ready form or as clinker.

Italy: Cement and clinker imports from non-EU countries rose by 43% year-on-year in the first nine months of 2024, following 2023's high of 2.28Mt of cement and 1.33Mt of clinker, up by 22.6% on 2022 and 572% compared to 2018, according to Federbeton.

Federbeton president Stefano Gallini said “Italy shares its Mediterranean coastline with countries that, although they boast a large cement manufacturing industry, do not share the stringent environmental and safety standards of EU countries. The increase in imports from these countries therefore risks having repercussions not only on the cement and concrete sector, but on the entire Italian economic and social context.”

Gallini warned that Italy faces challenges from cheaper imports driven by lower environmental investments abroad. He added “Federbeton, like the entire hard-to-abate industry, is in a moment of great turmoil, engaged in a path for decarbonisation with investments of €4.2bn in addition to extra operating costs of approximately €1.4bn/yr. Asking the Italian industry for an effort of this type and continuing not to protect it by allowing uncontrolled imports means relocating emissions to foreign countries, to which are added those due to increased transport, with dangerous repercussions for the future of our own planet.”

South Korea: The cement industry in South Korea faces rising costs due to a rising won-to-dollar exchange rate following the attempted impeachment of the president, and transportation disruptions from a railroad strike. This is likely to lead to an increase in coal import costs, according to Chosun Biz news.

The ongoing strike by the National Railroad Workers Union has disrupted cement transportation, though stockpiles in metropolitan areas have mitigated immediate effects. However, prolonged strikes could force production halts.

Kim Seung-jun, researcher at capital market company Hana Securities, said “In the fourth quarter, cement production is expected to decrease by 14% compared to the same period in 2023.”

Poland: Imports of Ukrainian cement to Poland are expected to rise from over 500,000t in 2024 to 1.5Mt in 2025, according to Ukraine Business News. Before the war, Ukraine consumed 12Mt/yr of cement, now reduced to 4Mt/yr, with the surplus exported mainly to Poland. Ivano-Frankivskcement, Ukraine’s largest producer, is currently expanding its capacity to 4Mt/yr, which could threaten the Polish cement industry.

The Polish Cement Producers Association said “The uncontrolled cement flow from Ukraine is unfair competition, since its producers do not bear the EU’s climate policy costs. Therefore, we cannot compete with Ukrainian imports.” It demands limiting duty-free imports to the average level of the past three years during the 2025 EU-Ukraine trade agreement review.

Kyrgyzstan: The Ministry of Economy and Commerce in Kyrgyzstan has initiated an anti-dumping investigation into cement imports from Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. The investigation covers imports over the past three years amid a ‘sharp’ rise in import volumes, according to Kun.Uz news. Cement imports increased by 130% from January – September 2024, reaching 401,000t, with Kazakhstan exporting 269,700t of cement worth US$14.3m and Uzbekistan exporting 124,000t valued at US$9.2m. Uzbekistan’s cement exports increased from 1000t in 2023 to 123,000t during January – September 2024. The investigation aims to determine breaches of fair competition rules and protect Kyrgyz producers and the domestic market.