Displaying items by tag: Oficemen

Spain: Demand for cement in Spain in the first half of 2018 was 8% higher than in the first half of 2017, according to the national cement association Oficemen. The rate of growth was down, however. The country recorded an 11% year-on-year increase in demand between the first half of 2016 and the first half of 2017. Oficemen had expected demand to pick up by 12% for the whole of 2018 but now expects an increase of 7% instead. If realised, this would mean sales of around 13.3Mt for 2018.

“At the beginning of the year, the Department of Studies of Oficemen expected to close 2018 with a 12% increase in domestic demand. Now, with public works almost paralysed, we are talking about lowering our forecasts by 5 percentage points,” explained the president of Oficemen, Jesús Ortiz. “The weak recovery of the construction that began in Spain in 2017 depends on the building sector. Although it is growing at a good pace, it does so from absolute values that are still very low.” It is estimated that 2018 will close with around 100,000 new homes started, a figure that, while ignoring the years of the construction boom, represents less than half of the average of the homes that were built in Spain in the period 1970-1995.

“Public investment in Spain remains at 63% of the average investment of Germany, the UK, France and Italy, which takes us dangerously away from our neighbours. There is a consequent loss of competitiveness for our country, especially in the most exposed sectors: exports, tourism, treatment and prevention of environmental risks, driver safety, and so on,“ added Ortiz.

Cement exports were also down year-on-year, for the 13th month in a row. Ortiz primarily blamed this on the devaluation of the Turkish Lira, which has helped Turkish cement exports advance their competitiveness compared to Spain. He also highlighted rising electricity costs, which are expected to be 20% higher at the end of 2018 than at the start. This will make electricity 28% more expensive than for German cement producers, according to Ortiz. “What has recovered in the domestic market in these two years, is being lost abroad, with production that remains stagnant at 20Mt since 2013, a figure that accounts for half of the installed capacity of our factories. Therefore, the uncertainty and concern for our industry is maintained,” concluded Ortiz.

Spain: Oficemen, the Spanish Cement Association, says that cement consumption grew by 11% year-on-year to 12.3Mt in 2017. The association expects it to rise by 12% to 13.7Mt in 2018. However, the cement consumed in 2017 is well below the high recorded in 2007. This has been due, in part, to a decrease in the amount of cement used in infrastructure projects. Cement used in civil works decreased by 75% to 5Mt in 2017 from 19Mt in 2008.

Exports of cement fell by 10% to below 9Mt, mainly due to a ‘loss of competiveness’ caused by growing local electricity prices. The association added that Spain is the largest exporter in the European Union and the eighth largest exporter of cement worldwide.

Spain: Oficemen, the Spanish cement association, has released its roadmap for reducing CO₂ emissions to 2050. The document highlights the potential of new technologies, including carbon capture and storage (CCS), which could decrease the CO2 footprint of the Spanish cement industry by up to 80% in 2050. Using existing the technology the association estimates it could reduce emissions by 35% from a 1990 baseline.

Spain: The board of directors of Oficemen, the Spanish cement association, has elected Jesús Ortiz, the chief executive officer (CEO) of HeidelbergCement in Spain, as its new president. He suceeds Jaime Ruiz de Haro, the CEO of Cemex España.

Jesús Ortiz, aged 56 years, worked between 1983 and 1989 as a Diplomatic Commercial Attaché for the French Ministry for Economy and Finance in various overseas postings and in France. In 1989 he joined Italcementi Group in France and then held different operational responsibilities at its Spainish operations. Between 2003 and 2007 he served as Managing Director of Italcementi Group’s activities in Greece and Bulgaria. He joined HeidelbergCement in 2007 as its General Manager for Spain before moving to Brussels to assume responsibilities for the group’s aggregate and concrete business in Europe and Africa. Following HeidelbergCement’s acquisition of Italcementi in 2016 he returned to Spain to coordinate the integration of the companies.

He holds a diploma in Economics and Business Administration from the ESC Clermont Graduate School of Management in Clermont-Ferrand, France and a master's degree from the European Institute of Business Administration in Fontainebleau, France. He is also the president of the European Aggregates Association (UEPG).

Spain: The Spanish cement makers association Oficemen says that cement consumption grew by 11% year-on-year to 4.9Mt in the first five months of 2017. It attributed the rise to increased residential housing construction. The association forecasts that, if the growth continues, the consumption may reach 12.3Mt in 2017, the strongest figure since 2012.

However, exports have fallen by 7.6% to 3.76Mt. Oficemen said that this decline has reduced the benefit of improvements in the domestic market and kept production capacity levels of 50% at cement plants. It also raised recent increases in electricity costs as cutting the competiveness of the industry’s exports.

Spain: The Spanish cement makers association Oficemen expects cement demand in Spain to fall by 3% year-on-year to 10.4Mt in 2014.

Despite the slight recovery of the Spanish economy expected by analysts, the year is expected to be difficult for the local cement makers, the chairman of Oficemen, Isidoro Miranda, has said. Cement demand is expected to start increasing in 2015 if the Development Ministry decides to boost investments public works, he added. In June 2014, cement demand in Spain fell by 2% year-on-year to 967,790t.

Spain: Spanish association of cement producers Oficemen has appointed Isidoro Miranda as its new chairman. Miranda, the managing director of Lafarge Cementos, will replace the former chairman of Cementos Portland Valderrivas and current CEO of builder FCC, Juan Bejar. Oficemen also named Jaime Ruiz de Haro, Jose Maria Aracama, Feliciano Gonzalez and Jorge Wagner as vice presidents.

Spain: Spanish cement production fell by a further 60% year-on-year in the first half of 2012 according to Oficemen, the sector's national association. Oficemen noted that demand for cement in Spain has now dropped to a 48-year low, with levels as low as this not seen since 1964. The association previously announced that the country produced 6Mt of cement in the five months to 31 May 2012, but did not provide a total amount for the first half of 2012.

Consumption also fell, by 34.7%, year-on-year to 7.2Mt in the first six months of 2012. Oficemen expects demand to plunge by 25% to 15Mt for the full year. Accordingly, it is expected that exports from Spain will increase by 40% year-on-year to 6Mt in 2012.

These figures compare unfavourably with 2011's own poor figures and come as the Spanish economy continues to struggle with its Eurozone debt, protests at austerity measures and unemployment of 25%.