Displaying items by tag: Report

UK: Pal Chana, the Executive Director of the Mineral Products Association (MPA), has warned of the cost burden from the implementation of climate change and energy related policies on the cement industry. He made the comments as part of the launch of the association’s 2016 Annual Performance Report.

"The report highlights that one of the greatest threats to the UK cement industry currently and in the near future is the considerable cumulative cost burden from the implementation of climate change and energy related policies, which we estimate are going to increase by 40% to 2020 even with the limited discounting provided by Government. If action is not taken to protect the UK cement sector from these rising costs, imports will increase, jobs will be lost and security of supply will be threatened,” said Chana. The MPA added that despite market improvements production is still 27% below the level it was in 2007.

In the report the MPA reveals that the cement industry has reduced its CO₂ emissions by 23% against a 1998 baselines. However, both emissions from calcination and the combustion of fossil fuels rose year-on-year in 2015, the most recent year of reporting. Despite this, emissions of NO_x, SO₂ and dust were all reduced or stabilised and waste fuels usage showed improvement. The MPA also said it was concerned that policy drivers, such as those incentivising the use of biomass in other sectors, is increasing the competition for limited biomass resource. This could result in a market distortion with the potential to drive cement manufacture back towards coal use.

India: A report by HDFC Securities suggests that the Indian cement industry will witness its first decline in cement sales volumes since 2001 due to demonetisation. The research by Ankur Kulshrestha and Sarfaraz Singh says that cement volumes fell by 13% year-on-year in January 2017 following a 9% decline in December 2016. They added that cement demand, although weak, is recovering from the shock with the south of the country least effected.

"Our channel checks across the country show cement demand, though still weak, is recovering from the effect of this move. Though states undergoing political processes (Uttar Pradesh and Punjab) are an exception to this recovery as of now, there is a possibility demand may pick up once the government formation is complete," said Kulshrestha and Singh. They added that energy prices contributed much of a surge of cement industry profitability in the last financial year or so.

US: The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) has blamed the management of Ash Grove Cement’s policies, procedures and controls for the death of a worker at its Midlothian cement plant in May 2016. Roderick Barnes, a maintenance worker aged 46 years, died from a fall from the top of a slurry tank. In its report on the incident the MSHA said that the cement producer failed to provide protection around openings through which workers could fall and that that it failed to use fall prevention and protection devices. The MSHA has issued five citations for violations of the Mine Act is relation to the event.

Spain: A market report examining the buying behaviour of the cement industry for materials handling systems has calculated that the market potential for relevant equipment comprises US$1.6bn, excluding China. The ‘Materials Handling Systems 2020’ report by OneStone Consulting analyses projects between 2013 and 2015 in 15 product categories for nine territories around the world. The product categories include crushers, stacker/reclaimers, apron and belt conveyors, belt and chain bucket elevators, pneumatic conveyors, dosing/weigh-feeding, storage systems, packers, palletisers, mechanical mixers and ship unloaders.

Egypt: The Egyptian cement industry could reduce its CO₂ emissions by 2030 by following new recommendations in a report from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). These recommendations have been published in the EBRD’s report, ‘Policy roadmap for a Low-Carbon Egyptian Cement Industry,’ which highlights the need for decisive and collaborative action by the industry’s stakeholders in order to achieve a reduction in CO₂ emissions.

“Improving environmental standards in the cement industry and offering commercial incentives is realistic and vital for the profitability of the sector,” said Philip ter Woort, the EBRD Director for Egypt.

The roadmap outlines recommendations for policy actions from the Egyptian government that may provide effective incentives for the cement industry to improve its energy efficiency and to reduce CO₂ emissions. The report points out that the potential for improvement is high despite that 50% of the Egyptian cement industry’s production capacity was built after 2000, and is using up-to-date equipment and clinker kilns that use best available technology (BAT).

Until 2014, the Egyptian cement industry, one of the most energy intensive industries in the country, had primarily used state-subsidised natural gas and heavy fuel oil to fire its cement kilns. However, following a gradual phasing out of the energy subsidies, Egyptian cement companies have switched to using high CO₂ intensive fuels such as coal and petcoke.

The roadmap suggests that in order to reduce CO₂ emissions, the industry should reduce the clinker content in cement, increase the use of alternative fuels, improve electrical energy efficiency and use more renewable sources of energy. Under one of the more ambitious scenarios, 2.2Mt/yr of coal will no longer have to be imported by 2030, saving about US$200m. Furthermore this would lead to a reduction in CO₂ emissions to about 2% below the historic level prior to the fuel switch. In addition the cement industry could increase its usage of alternative fuels substitution.

The report was initiated by the EBRD, in cooperation with Egypt’s Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency (EEAA), the Chamber of Building Materials Industries/Cement Industry Association (CBMI) and the Cement Sustainability Initiative (CSI) of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD).

Germany: HeidelbergCement has released its seventh Sustainability Report so far. Highlights from the report include a reduction of specific net CO₂ emissions by 22% to 606kg/t of cement (compared to 1990 levels) and a decreased clinker factor of 75%. However, specific emissions for NO_x, SO₂ and mercury all rose slightly from 2014.

“The numbers show what kind of progress HeidelbergCement made in 2015,” said Bernd Scheifele, CEO of HeidelbergCement. “We have also substantially intensified our commitment to the development of technologies to use CO₂ as a resource, and we have entered into very promising cooperative research projects. This puts us at the forefront of the movement in the cement industry.”

The 2015 report is also the first to present data on water management, following the implementation of industry indicators for water reporting at all cement plants in 2013 and 2014.

Belgium: Cembureau has taken exception with a report published by Sandbag on the emissions trading scheme and European cement sector entitled ’ Cement - The Final Carbon Fatcat - How Europe’s cement sector benefits and the climate suffers from emissions trading flaws.’ The European Cement Association alleged that the report contains factual and numerical errors. It also criticised the conclusion that the European Union (EU) emissions trading scheme (ETS) has incentivised overproduction.

“The allegations that the ETS has incentivised overproduction are based on thin air and do not acknowledge the strides the cement sector has made through investments in the reduction of its CO2 emissions. The ever-recurring mantra on over-allocation ignores that the cement industry has always called for an allocation closer to production and will continue to do so,” said Cembureau in a statement. It pointed out efforts by the cement industry to reduce the clinker content of cement and the presence of cement at the start of the building supply chain.

Cembureau also disagreed with the concept of a tiered approach as suggested by Sandbag. It has lobbied for a revision of the auctioning/free allowance of shares so as to allow the best performers to receive full free allocation, in line with the European Council Conclusions of 23 October 2014. It pointed out risks of a tiered approach to include unclear and unverifiable criteria to distinguish between sectors that could be discriminatory and open to legal challenge.

Despite its complaints Cemburea did partly agree with Sandbag’s views on the need for innovation funding to stimulate breakthrough technologies, a closer alignment between allocation and production in the form of a dynamic allocation and a stronger recognition of the role of alternative fuel and raw material use in emission reductions, with the inclusion of a landfill ban on recoverable and recyclable raw materials.

In its report Sandbag suggested that the EU ETS may have caused emissions in the cement sector to have risen beyond ‘business as usual.’ It estimated that emissions may have risen by more than 15Mt due to the scheme. It also flagged up five ‘Carbon Fatcat Companies’ from the cement sector who have collectively received nearly Euro1bn worth of spare EU allowances for free between 2008 and 2014. The cement producers cited by Sandbag were LafargeHolcim, HeidelbergCement and Italcementi, CRH, Cemex and Buzzi Unicem.

World: A multi-client market report by OneStone Consulting S.L., of Barcelona, Spain was released on 15 December 2015.

According to the report, the global white cement market has seen a recovery after some years of slow growth. "The global annual growth rates are projected to increase from 2.5% in 2010 - 2015 to an average annual growth of 3.8% by 2020, with lowest growth in China," said research analyst Joe Harder. In 2015, global trade was improving. However, capacity utilisation rates of many producers remained low. New projects are in the pipeline, overcapacity issues will continue, prices continue to be under pressure and the global trade share is forecaste to decline.

The White Cement Outlook 2020 report analyses the global white cement industry. The data includes global and regional markets, market trends, the installed production base of all producers, regional market shares of the major producers, net trade and total trade, regional imports and exports, consumption by countries, market drivers, price trends, economies of scale and various benchmarks of the top producers, including Aalborg, Birla White, Çimsa, Federal White, JK White, RAK White and Sotacib. In the new report the latest data is available with data sets for 2015. The market report provides a five-year projection with an outlook of the market by 2020, including regional production and consumption, per capita consumption cement trade, cement capacities and a number of identified white cement projects.

Egypt: The Sinai Cement Company (SCC) has reported a US$3.6m net loss in the first half of 2015 compared to a profit of US$11.2m in the same period in 2014. Overall profits declined to US$4.2m from US$23m. On a quarterly basis, the firm lost US$1.3m in the first quarter of the year compared to a net profit of US$4.5m in the same period in 2014. The company operates a cement production facility in North Sinai.

Kenya: The East African Portland Cement Company (EAPCC) has adjusted its previous financial reports following the discovery of a theft of cement worth US$2m. The fraud led to the under-declaration of its overdraft by US$1.4m for cement lost in 2012, with the firm also overstating its sales and VAT payments by the same amount.

"The company lost cement worth US$1.4m and US$0.66m during the years ending 30 June 2012 and 30 June 2013 respectively through fraud, which was discovered in 2013," the EAPCC said in its latest annual report.

"The financial statements have been restated to correct these misstatements."

The Treasury and the National Social Security Fund (NSSF), which have a combined stake of 52% in the EAPCC, have questioned the accuracy of the EAPCC's accounts, which are examined by the National Audit Office and its agent Ernst & Young. The EAPCC management has disputed this claim.

In 2013, EAPCC suspended seven of its employees who were charged with allegedly stealing cement worth US$2m.