Displaying items by tag: Paraguay

Paraguay: Cementos Concepción (Cecon) says that its new 1Mt/yr integrated Concepción cement plant in San Lazaro will start commissioning in June 2022. Regular production is expected to start in August 2022. The Hoy newspaper reports that the project recently secured the last phase of its funding. It has a total investment of US$240m.

Bolivia/Paraguay: The Bolivian-Paraguayan Binational Chamber of Commerce & Industry is working with Bolivia-based Fábrica Nacional de Cemento (Fancesa) to export cement to Paraguay via the Parana – Paraguay Rivers Inland Waterway. The organisation is also trying to promote exports from the new Empresa Publica Productiva Cementos de Bolivia’s (ECEBOL) integrated cement plant at Caracollo in Oruro, according to the Agencia Boliviana de Información. Local Bolivian cement producers faced production stoppages from March to May 2020 due to coronavirus-related restrictions.

Argentina: InterCement subsidiary Loma Negra’s nine-month net sales for the period ending 30 September 2020 were US$321m, down by 23% year-on-year from US$416m. Its net profit doubled to US$95.3m from US$44.9m.

Chief executive officer (CEO) Sergio Faifman said, “We feel very satisfied with the robust position with which we concluded the third quarter of 2020. We have improved our operational results with margins expansion on the back of a continuing sales volume improvement coupled with effective cost and price management.

Faifman continued, “additionally, we seamlessly executed the sale of our Paraguayan operation, an excellent deal in terms of value generation and timing. We optimised the proceeds from the transaction, creating value for our shareholders and, at the time, strengthening our already robust financial situation.” He added, “In the quarter, cement demand in Argentina continues to operate at two speeds. On one side, our bagged cement segment has taken a strong recovery path of 18% year-on-year business growth, mostly due to household and retail demand. By contrast, the bulk cement segment, as well as concrete and aggregates, are still affected by the very low levels of larger private and public works, the execution of which is still hampered by the coronavirus lockdown and its effects.”

The company said that its L’Amali cement plant upgrade – a “key element of our long-term strategy” – is on track, but that uncertainties around the impacts of the coronavirus outbreak meant that the new line would not necessarily be commissioned when scheduled in early 2021.

Paraguay: The government has re-opened borders to imports of cement due to a national shortage. The Última Hora newspaper has reported that importers will be free to bring cement into the country without having first applied for a provisional import licence. The situation is the result of growth in demand after the coronavirus lockdown and the suspension of production at Yguazú Cementos due to ‘a problem with a transformer.’ The government has already issued Yguazú Cementos with a 15,000t/yr cement import licence due to this.

Paraguay: Argentina-based Loma Negra has sold its 51% stake in Yguazú Cementos. The El Cronista Comercial newspaper has reported that the proceeds of sale of the 0.8Mt/yr installed cement production capacity subsidiary will go towards paying off Loma Negra’s debts. The company said, “Loma Negra’s objective is to seek and execute projects with high potential. For this reason, after having started marketing operations in Paraguay in 2000, built and operated the factory since 2013 and reached high standards of production and profitability, we have finally decided to finalise its sale.”

Yguazú Cementos sold 260,000t of cement in the first half of 2020, down by 6.8% year-on-year from 267,000t in the first half of 2019. This generated revenues of US$25.4m, up by 39% from US$18.3m and constituting 12% of Loma Negra’s total sales of US$212m over the period. The company valued the asset at US$80m on 30 June 2020. The buyer is a Paraguayan company reportedly connected to remainder shareholder Intercement.

Yguazú Cementos’ 0.4Mt/yr Ascunsción cement plant in Capital District and 0.4Mt/yr Villa Hayes cement plant in Presidente Hayes Department supplied 40% of Paraguay’s cement demand in 2019.

Paraguay: Distributors of cement supplied by Industria Nacional del Cemento (INC) are reportedly waiting up to a month for their orders to be delivered, even if they pay in advance. The state-run cement company’s two plants are delivering around 40,000 bags/day despite a production capacity of up to 100,000 bags/day, according the ABC Color newspaper. INC inaugurated a new mill at its Villeta cement grinding plant in 2018 and has invested US$80m in its last set of upgrade projects.

Paraguay: Industria Nacional del Cemento (INC) has reported sales of 79,800 bags/day of cement between 4 May 2020 and 8 May 2020. Demand had collapsed in April 2020 due to restrictions on construction resulting from the coronavirus outbreak. Esmerk Latin American News has reported that newly reopened distributors collected their orders and that a number of customers purchased more than their usual volume in anticipation of a further easing of lockdown. INC has placed an order for 40,000t of imported clinker to help production to meet demand.

Argentina: Loma Negra’s sales of cement, masonry and lime fell by 26% year-on-year to 1.13Mt in first quarter of 2020. The decline was driven by the coronavirus lockdown in Argentina, where the subsidiary of Brazil’s InterCement has most of its sales. Concrete and aggregate sales volumes declined also. The company’s new revenue dropped by 29.6% to US$115m and its adjusted earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell by 17.9% to US$38.6m. However, the company’s accountant adjustment for use in so-called ‘hyperinflationary economies’ made a negative impact on these figures. With this adjustment removed both revenue and earnings reportedly rose in the first quarter.

“By the end of the first quarter the coronavirus broke out, bringing additional challenges to the already adverse background,” said Sergio Faifman, Loma Negra’s chief executive officer (CEO). He added that cement demand in Argentina nationally contracted by around 29% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2020.

The cement producer temporarily suspended its production facilities and its L´Amalí Expansion project in late March 2020 due to the government lockdown. Production and dispatches of cement were restarted in early April 2020 following the implementation of new sanitation protocols. The company has now resumed working on its upgrade project at L´Amalí.

Paraguay: Cement has been entering Paraguay at a rate of 6000t per month, up by 400% from 1000t per month upon the removal of restrictions on 19 November 2019, as importers move to fill the supply gap created by falling domestic production. ABC has reported that the construction sector requires 0.1m bag/day of cement, of which the state-owned Industria Nacional del Cemento (INC) is currently providing 20,000 and Intercement 30,000. ABC has named neighbouring Argentina as a source of Paraguay’s incoming cement.

Paraguay: The Ministry of Industry and Commerce (MIC) has lifted restrictions on cement imports following problems with local production. The local market needs around 100,000 bags/day of cement and state-owned Industria Nacional del Cemento (INC) normally provides around half of this, according to the ABC Color newspaper. However, production problems at INC’s plants have seen significant drops in supply.