Displaying items by tag: Japan

Japan: Mitsubishi UBE Cement (MUCC), in collaboration with seven other companies, has been commissioned by the Japan Organisation for Metals and Energy Security (JOGMEC) to conduct a survey of the carbon capture and storage (CCS) project for the Southern Offshore Malay Peninsula in the 2024 financial year. This work is part of the ‘Engineering Design Work for Advanced CCS Projects’ and will study the CCS value chain from CO₂ captured from the cement industry in the Kyushu, Chugoku and Kinki regions, to the transport and storage of the liquefied CO₂ for geological in the southern offshore Malay peninsula, currently under development. MUCC will be responsible for the CCS processes at its Ube cement plant.

Japan: Taiheiyo Cement, ITOCHU, Nippon Steel, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, INPEX, Taisei, and ITOCHU Oil Exploration have been chosen by the Japan Organisation for Metals and Energy Security (JOGMEC) to lead the engineering design work for key carbon capture and storage (CCS) initiatives. This selection marks a step towards Japan's ambitious goals to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 and a 46% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from financial year 2013 (FY13) levels by FY30.

The project encompasses front end engineering design (FEED) and appraisal drilling as critical next steps following a comprehensive feasibility study conducted in FY23. This prior study involved detailed assessments of CO₂ separation, capture, transportation and storage processes. The CCS initiative involves shipping CO₂ captured at Nippon Steel’s Kyushu Works in the Oita area and Daiichi Cement's Kawasaki plant, part of the Taiheiyo Cement Group, to designated storage sites.

Congratulations to Taiheiyo Cement Philippines (TCPI) this week for inaugurating its new 3Mt/yr production line at its Cebu plant. The US$220m line replaces the old line at the site that was closed in late 2021.

The plant was originally built by Grand Cement Manufacturing in the early 1990s. Japan-based Taiheiyo Cement took over in 2001 and later made the decision to upgrade the site in 2017. It then contracted China-based Anhui Conch and Sinoma (Handan) Construction for the project in 2021 and groundbreaking took place in mid-2022. Commercial operation of the new line was previously scheduled from May 2024. TCPI has also invested around US$140m in related projects such as its Jetty and Marine Belt Conveyor project, which links the Cebu plant to the coast via a conveyor. Other parts of this expenditure encompass the Luzon Distribution Terminal Project at Calaca in Batangas and general port development in San Fernando.

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) was keen to promote this example of a foreign-owned company investing in local manufacturing. DTI Secretary Fred Pascual pointed out that Japan is the country’s “second-largest trading partner and third-largest source of foreign investment.” He also linked the project to the national Build Better More infrastructure development programme and the Tatak Pinoy Act that was introduced in early 2024 to promote local industry. Along these lines, Republic Cement was awarded the Domestic Bidder’s Certificate of Preference this week. It is the first cement company to receive it. The initiative promotes the use of local manufactured materials in government projects as part of the Tatak Pinoy Act. As one might expect, the Cement Manufacturers Association of the Philippines (CEMAP) supports the Tatak Pinoy Act. It voiced its support for the legislation in June 2024 when the DTI started to implement it. It noted that cement imports were just under 7Mt/yr in 2023 despite the anti-dumping duties imposed on a number of Vietnam-based producers and traders. This compares to a local production capacity of nearly 50Mt/yr.

CEMAP mentioned that new production lines from both TCPI and Solid Cement were expected in 2024. The latter project is a new production line being built at Solid Cement’s Antipolo plant near Manilla in Rizal province. Cemex Philippines held a groundbreaking ceremony for the 1.5Mt/yr line at its subsidiary back in 2019. However, Cemex said it was selling its Philippines-based business to DMCI Holdings and related companies in April 2024. As part of this process Cemex sold its local cement brands to the Consunji family, the owners of DMCI Holdings, in June 2024. Regulatory approval of the divestment is still pending but the sale of the brands suggest that the transaction is progressing. Completion is expected by the end of 2024. Operation of the new line at the Antipolo plant is anticipated from September 2024.

Another forthcoming plant project was announced by PHINMA Corporation in June 2024. It signed a joint venture deal with investment company Anflo Group to build a 2Mt/yr cement plant in Davao del Norte. The project is scheduled to be operational by 2026. Cement from the plant will be marketed under the Union Cement brand. The sums involved suggest a grinding plant but PHINMA’s cement division, Philcement Corporation, is involved with both manufacture and importation. PHINMA also signed a deal to buy Petra Cement in May 2024. The latter company runs a 0.5Mt/yr cement grinding plant in Zamboanga del Norte. PHINMA re-entered the cement market in the late 2010s when it bought the Union Cement brand and built a cement processing plant at Mariveles, Bataan in 2020.

The battles between cement producers and importers continue to play out in the Philippines as the country’s infrastructure plans gather pace. Yet the balance seems to be tilting more towards the favour of the local manufacturers at the moment, as new capacity gets proposed and built. Anti-dumping duties on imports, particularly those from Vietnam, have now been followed up with local procurement rules in the guise of the Tatak Pinoy Act. Whether this is enough remains to be seen. This kind of environment and the departure of Cemex may also start to revive questions about whether any other foreign-owned cement companies might be considering their options too.

Japan: Sumitomo Osaka Cement recorded sales of US$1.42bn in the 2024 financial year, up by 9% year-on-year from 2023 financial year levels. The company’s net profit was US$104m, up by 32%. Its cement sales were US$1.02bn, up by 14% year-on-year.

Japanese cement demand for the financial year totalled 34.6Mt, down by 7% year-on-year. Under its 2025 Medium-Term Management Plan, Sumitomo Osaka Cement has continued work to increase its profitability and to expand its overseas business in Australia, as well as developing new ventures in the decarbonisation field.

Japan: Taiheiyo Cement recorded a profit of US$276m for the financial year ending March 2024, following a loss of US$212m in 2023. Sales significantly increased to US$5.7bn. Domestic demand for cement is stable due to urban redevelopment projects and the construction of new logistics facilities. On the other hand, rising costs and delays to construction work and longer construction periods due to a shortage of workers resulted in output declining by 7.3% year-on-year to 34.6Mt.

Looking ahead to the 2025 financial year, Taiheiyo Cement expects a 43% year-on-year rise in net profit to US$396m and anticipates sales to grow by 8.3% year-on-year to US$6.1bn.

Japan: Taiheiyo Cement will install a gas engine power system at its Fujiwara cement plant in Inabe-shi, Mie Prefecture. The system replaces the existing thermal power system at the plant, which uses petcoke. Construction is set to begin in 2025 and the facility will be operational by the end of 2026. The new system will reduce the plant’s CO₂ emissions by 130,000t/yr.

President and representative director Masafumi Fushihara said "Taiheiyo Cement positions the reduction of CO₂ emissions from its cement production as an important growth strategy and will work to continue to achieve carbon neutrality through various countermeasures and the promotion of further energy conservation."

Japan: Sumitomo Osaka Cement expects to record a 9.5% year-on-year rise in its sales in the 2024 financial year (1 April 2023 – 31 March 2024), to US$1.5bn. Nikkei Financial News has reported that this represents a downward revision of 1.3% from the producer’s previous estimate of US$1.52bn. On the other hand, Sumitomo Osaka Cement revised its profit forecast upwards by 12%, to US$79m. Previously in the 2023 financial year, it reported a loss of US$38.3m.

Japan: Taiheiyo Cement's nine-month results for the 2024 financial year showed a 9.9% year-on-year rise in sales, to US$4.44bn from US$4.04bn. Dow Jones Institutional News has reported that the producer’s net profit rebounded to US$194m, against a US$119m loss in the first nine months of the 2023 financial year.

Japan: Tokuyama Corporation reported sales of US$1.7bn in the first nine months of the 2024 financial year. This represents a 3.3% year-on-year drop from nine-month levels in the previous financial year. The company sold 2.42Mt of cement, and exported 460,000t (19%) of this to foreign markets. Tokuyama Corporation now expects to sell 3.2Mt of cement and export 600,000t in the full 2024 financial year. As a result, the company’s cement business contributed US$345m in sales in the first nine months of the financial year, up by 16% year-on-year.

Japan: Sumitomo Osaka Cement, Sumitomo Corporation, JFE Steel, Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha and Woodside Energy have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to jointly conduct a business feasibility study looking at setting up a CO₂ hub in the Setouchi and Shikoku regions. It will examine how CO₂ can be collected from different industries, transported to a hub port and then shipped to Australia for sequestration. A signing of the MOU was held at the ASEAN-Japan Economic Co-Creation Forum in the presence of Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Ken Saito.

Sumitomo Osaka Cement operates two integrated plants in the Setouchi and Shikoku regions at Ako and Kochi respectively.