Displaying items by tag: Poland

Poland/Germany: Cemex will expand its renewable energy portfolio in its Central Europe Materials division by adding new photovoltaic farms at its cement plants in Mysłowice, Warsaw, Lublin, Szczecin, Gdańsk and at the Mirowo quarry, under an agreement with EDP Energia Polska. The company currently operates five photovoltaic farms in the region, four in Germany and one in Pruszków near Warsaw. Nine new farms in Poland will take total photovoltaic capacity above 14MW. Existing installations produce 128MW/month; this will rise to 291MWh/month once the new farms become operational.

Cemex has also signed an eight-year power purchase agreement with Norwegian energy company Statkraft to supply its Polish operations with wind and photovoltaic electricity, covering 30% of Cemex Polska’s energy demand.

Poland: The Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK) has launched an investigation into Cement Ożarów, Cemex Polska, Dyckerhoff Polska, Góradżdże Cement, Górażdże Beton and Holcim Polska over potential cement cartelisation. The office has not stated the exact triggers of such an investigation at this time.

ISB News has reported that UOKiK previously discovered an 11-year-long conspiracy to divide the market and fix prices between seven companies in 2009.

UOKiK President Tomasz Chróstny said "The return of a cartel would be particularly outrageous, considering that cement is one of the basic construction materials, necessary for the development of housing, road infrastructure and the entire economy."

If found to have been party to any agreement restricting competition, companies can expect penalties as high as 10% of turnover.

The Polish Cement Association (SPC) has taken a swing at mounting cement imports from outside of the European Union (EU) in recent weeks. Its ‘apocalyptic’ message was underlined by the name of a seminar it participated in at the European Parliament: “Is the end of cement production in the EU approaching?” The SPC’s primary target appeared to be imports from Ukraine. It said that, “...cement imports from Ukraine - only to Poland - have increased by almost 3000% over five years (2019 - 2024). (In 2024) it amounted to more than 650,000t, and forecasts for 2025 already indicate more than 1Mt.” However, it detailed other issues affecting the sector including high energy prices, the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) and decarbonisation costs such as carbon capture.

The SPC is clearly keen to find cross-country support in the EU. In its accompanying statement it said "The uncontrolled increase in imports - from Ukraine to Poland or Romania, and from Türkiye and Africa to Italy or Spain - is already directly threatening cement producers, and will only continue to rise until the full implementation of the CBAM. It shows that imports from outside the EU are not just a problem for Poland.” Representatives from the cement associations in the later countries - CIROM, AITEC and Oficemen - all added comments to the SPC statement.

The SPC has called for a customs quota on cement imports from Ukraine to Poland to be introduced. It also asked for the European Commission to extend the EU ETS indirect cost compensation scheme to include the cement sector in order to further hedge against rising energy bills. It argues that this measure is essential to keep the cement industry competitive both now and in the future. Future electricity consumption is expected to double as cement plants start to install carbon capture technology.

Graph 1: Domestic cement sales and imports in Poland, 2019 - 2024. Source: SPC, Eurostat. Note: 2024 sales estimated.

Data from the SPC suggests that domestic cement sales in Poland peaked at 19.4Mt in 2022. They fell by 12% year-on-year to 16.6Mt in 2023 and then appear to have grown to 17.1Mt in 2024 based on estimated data. It is hard to replicate the SPC’s methodology for determining cement imports into Poland based on Eurostat data. However, data in its Economic Impact Report published at the end of 2024 suggests that imports from Ukraine grew from 79,000t in 2019 to 332,000t in 2023. Any significant rise in imports of cement in 2024, as the local industry recovered from the decline in 2023, seems likely to have caused concern.

Polish concern at growing imports from Ukraine started to be expressed in the press from early 2024 onwards when the 2023 data became apparent. Germany had been the biggest source of imports from the mid-2010s. Yet Germany and Ukraine both supplied about 30% of total imports each in 2023. For example, SPC head Zbigniew Pilch noted in April 2024 that imports from Ukraine were growing steadily each month and represented nearly half of total imports in January 2024. He described these volumes as “deeply concerning.” The Association of Cement Producers in Ukraine (Ukrcement) later attempted to soothe Polish concerns in late 2024 looking at longer import trends and bringing up the challenges facing Ukraine-based producers operating in a warzone.

Concerns about imports from Ukraine in eastern countries in the EU go back decades but have been clouded by the war with Russia. This is now reasserting itself as import levels grow, the cost of decarbonising heavy industry becomes more urgent and the CBAM comes into force. That said , cement plants in Ukraine look unlikely to cope with the CBAM that well due to their relatively high emissions intensity. Yet, other exporting countries outside the EU with lower cement sector emissions intensities may simply displace their competitors. Hence, the SPC’s call for a quota. The kinds of arguments that the SPC is making about carbon leakage are likely to grow fiercer across the EU as the definitive stage of the CBAM, due to start in 2026, draws nearer. Will the current situation lead to ‘the end of cement production in the EU?’ Time will tell…

Poland: Cement producers are calling on the European Commission to introduce quotas on imports from Ukraine, to limit their volumes to 0.36Mt/yr. This figure is almost half of the 2024 figure. Poland imported 0.1Mt of cement from Ukraine in 2022, but more than 0.65Mt in 2024. Forecasts for 2025 exceed 1.0Mt, a 10-fold increase in just three years. Ukraine exported 1.7Mt of cement to EU countries in 2024.

The Polish Association of Cement Producers (ACP) believes that the increase in imports is already harming local cement plants, which it says are forced to compete with Ukrainian suppliers on unequal terms. Wlodzimierz Choluy, a member of the ACP's board of directors, emphasised that the effects of imports were becoming particularly noticeable in the border regions of Podkarpacie and Lublin voivodeships.

Polish manufacturers complain that Ukraine is not covered by the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS), meaning that Polish-made cement is at a cost disadvantage. This is known as ‘carbon leakage.’

Poland: Cemex has signed an agreement with EDP Energia Poland to build solar installations at several of its sites, with a total capacity of over 14MW. The investment is part of its ‘Future in Action’ strategy to combat climate change.

New solar plants will be installed at Cemex's cement plants in Chełm, Rudniki, and Gdynia, as well as its ready-mix concrete plants in Mysłowice, Warsaw Annopol, Lublin, Szczecin, and Gdańsk. The concrete plant installations will begin operating in the second quarter of 2025, while the installations at the cement plants are scheduled to start generating power in the first quarter of 2026. EDP Energia Polska will install and manage the solar installations under a 15-year agreement, supplying renewable energy to Cemex facilities.

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.

Poland: Ukrainian cement exports to Poland account for less than 4% of Poland's production, indicating no need for a trade war, according to the Association of Cement Producers in Ukraine (Ukrcement). The association was responding to concerns raised by the Polish Cement Producers Association, which stated that imports of Ukrainian cement into Poland could triple from 0.5Mt in 2024 to 1.5Mt in 2025.

Ukrcement stated that the export of Ukrainian cement to Poland had historically been minimal, accounting for only 0.2-0.3% of Poland's total cement production in 2021, amounting to 53,400t. "Before the full-scale invasion, the export of cement from Ukraine to Poland was symbolic in nature, dictated by the logistics of consumer choice in the border areas of Ukraine-Poland," the association said.

However, since the start of the full-scale war, exports to Poland have significantly increased, partly due to a significant reduction in domestic cement consumption in Ukraine, from 10.5Mt in 2021 to 6.1Mt in 2023.

"If we compare the export of cement from Ukraine to Poland during the war with the total production volumes in Poland, we get a figure that does not exceed 4%. Is this indicator such a decisive factor for cement producers in Poland?" Ukrcement asked.

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.

Italy: Buzzi’s net sales decreased by 4% year-on-year to €3.18bn in the first nine months of 2024 from €3.30bn in the same period in 2023. Its cement and ready-mixed concrete sales volumes fell by 6% to 18.8Mt and by 8% to 7.74Mm³ respectively. The group attributed the declines to a “…challenging market environment in Central Europe and the lack of recovery in Italy and the US during the summer.” However, sales were up in Poland and the Czech Republic.

Poland: The Polish cement industry is under threat from increasing Ukrainian cement imports, which have risen by 106% year-on-year in the first half of 2024, according to Warsaw Business Journal. These imports, making up 91% of all cement imports into Poland, could exceed 500,000t by the end of 2024. Despite a projected 3.6% rise in domestic production to 17.2Mt, the competition from lower-cost Ukrainian cement, not subject to EU climate regulations, threatens Poland's economy and job market.