Displaying items by tag: Peru

Peru: Cementos Pacasmayo has appointed Ely Hayashi as its Chief Financial Officer (CFO) with effect from 1 April 2025. She will succeed Manuel Ferreyros in the post, who has been CFO since 2008.

Hayashi has worked for Cementos Pacasmayo since 2005, when she started as a Management Control Analyst intern. She subsequently became Head of Management Control in 2011 and then the Central Manager of Finance and Management Control in 2022. She holds a degree in business administration from the Universidad del Pacífico in Lima and an International Master of Business Administration from the IE Business School.

Chile: The offer made by Peru’s Yura Group to acquire a further 20% of Chile’s Cementos Bío Bío (CBB) – in addition to the 20% it already owns – has been rejected by directors, according to CE Noticias Financieras. This is despite it valuing the company at US$390m, 110% of its current market value. CBB’s board maintained that the price is still insufficient for shareholders who see their investment as being worth more in the longer term.

"It is a low value considering operations of similar characteristics and amounts, as it does not consider the potential growth once the low demand cycle associated with the construction industry ends, or new mining projects that demand lime," emphasised the director of CBB, Alfonso Rozas.

Peru: National cement dispatch fell by 2% year-on-year to 1.06Mt in September 2024, according to a report by ASOCEM, the cement manufacturers’ association of Peru. Cement production rose slightly by 0.2% year-on-year to 997,000t, while clinker production dropped by 19% to 661,000t. Cement exports declined by 1% year-on-year to 11,500t, and clinker exports decreased by 45% to 37,400t. However, cement imports increased by 0.5% compared to September 2023 to 21,000t, and clinker imports rose by 34% to 84,000t.

Peru: Switzerland-based Holcim has acquired ready-mix concrete producer Mixercon and industrial minerals producer Comacsa for US$100m. Comacsa owns a white cement plant in Lima. Noticias Financieras News has reported that the acquisitions mark Holcim’s entry into Peru, strengthening its hold in the South and Central American market.

Regional head Oliver Osswald said "The incorporation of Comacsa and Mixercon will allow us to generate synergies and develop export markets.”

US: Peru-based Unacem recorded a rise in cement sales volumes in its US operations during the second quarter of 2024 to 324,000t, a 96% increase from the same period in 2023. It partly attributed the growth to the addition of the Tehachapi plant in California in August 2023, which contributed 159,000t during the reporting period, Noticias Financieras News has reported.

However, in the Peruvian market, Unacem reported cement sales volumes of 1.37Mt, down by 2.8% compared to the second quarter of 2023. 

Both Limak Çimento and Cemento Yura revealed plans to work with hydrogen this week. Additionally, Lhyfe and Fives signed a deal to sell decarbonised products and services to industries, including cement, covering hydrogen production to combustion.

Türkiye-based Limak Çimento said that it had successfully conducted a hydrogen-enhanced alternative fuel test at its integrated Anka plant near Ankara. As part of the project it blended hydrogen with an alternative carbon-neutral fuel and then operated the plant’s kiln at a 50% substitution rate. The cement company says that the trial achieved a world first by feeding the hydrogen-enhanced fuel directly into the calciner instead of the main burner in the rotary kiln. According to local press, Air Liquide supplied grey hydrogen for the test, although this could be switched to green hydrogen in the future. As a reminder, ‘green’ hydrogen is produced by the electrolysis of water using renewable energy sources. ‘Grey’ hydrogen is made from steam reforming using fossil fuels.

Limak’s wider ambition is to use hydrogen-blended alternative fuels at all of its cement plants by 2030. By doing so it aspires to reduce its CO₂ emissions by 700,000t/yr. Its CEO Erkam Kocakerim remarked in mid-2023 that focusing on the carbon risks that energy-intensive industries might face exporting to the European Union (EU) paled in comparison to the potential payback from the green energy transition. At a climate change summit in mid-2023 organised by the United Nations and the Turkish government, he called for the Turkish Emission Trading System to be put into action as soon as possible, the creation of an updated renewable energy roadmap with renewable hydrogen, CCUS and renewable fuels, and the publication of a hydrogen and CO₂ country atlas. At the same time, he stated that the local cement sector could meet the EU’s 2030 emissions targets through the increased uptake of alternative fuels and blended cements.

Meanwhile in Peru this week Juan Carlos Burga, the general manager of Grupo Gloria subsidiary Cemento Yura, told the Gestión newspaper that its cement plant near Arequipa is preparing to start a green hydrogen trial in 2025. The catalyst for this is a solar power unit at the site that is currently scheduled for commissioning in early 2025. Once it is ready then the plant’s hydrogen project can use the renewable energy source to manufacture hydrogen and inject small quantities of it to stabilise the burning process and reduce the amount of coal used.

By contrast the memorandum of understanding that Lhyfe and Fives announced this week looks like the pair are marking their territory in the hydrogen supply and equipment chain for heavy industry. As part of the agreement the companies are targeting the metals, glass and cement industries and some other selected industrial heating processes and applications in Europe and North America. France-based Lhyfe develops, builds and runs green hydrogen production plants both for external clients and itself. It operates one plant at Bouin in France and is building other plants in France and Germany. However, the output of these sites is low. In spite of this, it says it is set to become the largest producer of renewable hydrogen in France in 2024. Fives, well known as a cement equipment supplier, says it has been a “technological leader in hydrogen for over 50 years” and that it sells “the widest range of hydrogen-proven burners available on the market to serve all industries.” The Lhyfe-Fives agreement follows a similar deal between Air Products and ThyssenKrupp Uhde Chlorine Engineers in 2020.

Projects in West Asia and South America such as those discussed by Limak Çimento and Cemento Yura are not necessarily where one might expect them to be. Typically all the sustainability news in the cement sector tends to be dominated by companies in Europe and North America. This is reflected in the continents that Lhyfe and Fives have targeted this week. Yet, the focus by Limak and Yura on hydrogen suggests that these companies are hunting for decarbonisation options that are cost effective ahead of potential legislative enforcement. Both appear to be using hydrogen as a fuel enhancer or additive rather than on its own.

We have reported upon a steady stream of hydrogen projects for the cement sector in the last year. These include Heidelberg Materials' study looking at using ammonia as a hydrogen source for fuelling cement kilns at its Ribblesdale cement plant in the UK, Fives work with Holcim at the La Malle plant in France and much work by Cemex such as the increase of its stake in green hydrogen production technology developer HiiROC in late 2023. As with Global Cement Weekly’s previous reporting on hydrogen, the jury is still out on whether it is a ‘goer’ for heavy industry at scale. An executive at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries told a conference in March 2024 that the infrastructure investment to support the use of hydrogen would cost over US$1Tn in the US and Europe alone. The head of Saudi Aramco then pointed out at the same event that oil and gas, for now at least, cost far less than hydrogen. Despite this, the projects keep coming.

Peru: Unacem has unveiled its roadmap to 2030, committing to a carbon emissions target of 500kg of CO₂/t of cement by 2030 across all operations, a reduction from the current 607kg/t. The company plans to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 and is investing US$300m to meet these goals.

In 2023, Unacem achieved a CO₂ reduction of 5kg/t of cement and targets a further 6kg/t reduction in 2024, with medium-term goals of 21kg/t and 16kg/t for 2025 and 2026, respectively. The roadmap also includes enhancing thermal efficiency and transitioning to 100% clean energy for its Peruvian operations by 2035.

Peru: The Gloria Group is set to expand its operations with a new lime plant in Lima's industrial zone, according to CE NoticiasFinancieras. This development is promoted by the group’s cement, concrete and lime subsidiary Cemento Yura. The proposed plant, will have a production capacity of over 350,000t/yr and will serve both domestic and export markets. Currently, the group operates Cal y Cementos Sur (Calcesur), which produces quicklime and hydrated lime in Juliaca with a capacity of 1Mt/yr. With lime demand rising, particularly from the mining and construction sectors, Gloria Group is also considering further plant projects.

The company is reportedly confident that the procedures for obtaining operating permits for new projects in the mining sector will be expedited in order to stimulate the demand for lime. It also did not rule out the implementation of new plants.

Peru: Grupo Gloria subsidiary Yura plans to build a solar power plant in Yura, Arequipa. The plant will have a peak power of 31MWp and a nominal power of 27MW. The installation involves a 1.3km-long, 30kV transmission line. Gestión News has reported that the project is intended to reduce the costs associated with the company’s cement production.

Peru: UNACEM reported sales of US$1.69bn in 2023, up by 6.6% year-on-year, despite a ‘significant downturn’ in the construction market. Its net profit dropped by 22% to US$139m.

Business News Americas has reported that the Peruvian Cement Producers’ Association (ASOCEM) recorded 9% month-on-month growth in domestic cement consumption in January 2024. Scotiabank forecasts 5% year-on-year growth in consumption in the first quarter of 2024, and a 3.7% expansion in the construction market in the full year 2024, following an 8% contraction in full-year 2023.