Displaying items by tag: Taiwan

Italy: Taiwan-based Taiwan Cement has successfully acquired a 60% stake in battery and hydrogen power systems supplier Engie EPS for Euro132m. The building materials producer is attempting to become a global supplier in the sector.

Indonesia: The newly cement producing province of North Sulawesi on Celebes exported 63,000t of cement in May 2021. The Philippines News Agency has reported the value of the exports as US$2.18m. The main destination for the province’s exported cement was Malaysia, which received 32,500t (51%) for US$1.10m, corresponding to 50% of the total value. Taiwan imported 23,500t (37%) for US$764,000 (35%) and the Philippines imported 1.87Mt (13%) for US$317,000 (15%).

Taiwan: Asia Cement Corporation has completed its US$1.3m full shore power project for its cement vessels. Following the upgrade its cement carriers use the ‘Taipower’ power supply when berthed at port instead of using on-board generators. The project has been implemented at the ports of Kaohsiung, Taichung, Keelung and Hualien. The cement producer currently operates four cement carriers.

The shipping upgrade is expected to save over 1474t/yr of fuel oil and effectively reduce 5329t/yr of CO₂ emissions. The cement producer added that it would improve the unloading efficiency of cement carriers, decreasing the unloading time by 50%, and reduce wear on the ship generators.

Taiwan: Taiwan Cement’s revenue rose by 11.3% year-on-year to US$788m in the first quarter of 2021. Its income increased by 11% to US$119m. It attributed this to profit growth in its cement businesses in Taiwan and Europe despite ‘weak’ sales prices in China.

Chairman Nelson Chang said, “To reduce carbon emissions, using alternative fuel and material for cement production, adopting renewable energy, and expanding energy storage usage are crucial and Taiwan Cement aims to play our role in helping society achieving the goal of a low carbon environment.” In 2020 the group processed over 9Mt of alternative fuels in its Greater China business.

Italy: Taiwan-based Taiwan cement has agreed to acquire Engie’s 60% stake in battery and hydrogen power systems supplier Engie EPS. The aggregate value of the deal is Euro132m. The producer expects to close the deal in mid-late 2021, whereupon it will launch an all-cash mandatory tender offer for the company’s remaining shares. Taiwan Cement said that the transaction would provide the cornerstone for its strategic global blueprint in the future.

Taiwan: Taiwan Cement has announced plans to establish a super battery plant in Kaohsiung. The plant will produce high-charge-discharge nickel ternary batteries developed by the company’s subsidiaries TCC Green Energy and battery specialist E-Moli. The maximum total investment in the facility will be US$350m. The plant will be the first of its kind in Taiwan and will have a capacity of 1.8GW/yr in battery power.

Chair Nelson Chang said, "Everyone has only one nationality, Earth."

Taiwan: Taiwan Cement’s revenue fell by 7% year-on-year to US$4.02bn in 2020 from US$4.32bn in 2019. Net income grew by 4% to US$881m.

Senior vice president Edward Huang said, "In 2020, Taiwan Cement made achievements in many aspects. In additional to our sound financial performance, we also committed to the Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA)’s Climate Ambition aspiring to deliver carbon neutral concrete to society by 2050. Even though challenges such as Covid-19, global economic volatility and climate change remain in 2021, Taiwan Cement is well-prepared as we continue to see stable profits in the cement industry, expand our waste treatment and energy businesses and move towards our carbon emissions reduction targets."

The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has warned local cement producers to rein in their more outlandish claims. In a letter reported upon by the Economic Times newspaper this week, the government department has accused some manufacturers of making both objective and subjective claims about their products that strained credulity and didn’t fit the corresponding official standards. One industry source from the newspaper blamed the crackdown on some producers claiming that their cement products helped protect people from Covid-19! In their view the bureau was now over-enforcing its rules in retaliation. Given the severity of the outbreak in India - it has the second highest number of reported cases in the world this week - the response of the authorities is understandable to say the least.

The distinction between objective and subjective exaggeration that the BIS makes it worth looking at in more detail. For example, objective or supposedly fact-based claims the BIS cited included: ‘Protect Steel in Concrete’; ‘Protect Concrete from Corrosion’; ‘Corrosion Resistant’; ‘Weather Proof’; and ‘Damp Proof.’ Then, there were subjective, or more emotionally evocative, claims along the lines of ‘strong’ or ‘high performance.’ The BIS then outlines the specific ways in which objective and subjective assertions can be used. Objective claims should be avoided on marketing and packaging material. Subjective claims should, “explicitly indicate that such claims are not covered under the scope of BIS licence granted to them and the responsibility of such claims lies with them.”

Marketing is a big part of standing out in the crowded Indian cement market with producers sponsoring major sports teams. This might seem odd to readers elsewhere in the world but it demonstrates the target market, the importance of cement as a commodity to the general public and the power of brand awareness. Amubja Cement’s logo of a man with a Charles Atlas style physique cuddling a building sums up the message they want to convey: strength. No wonder producers are wary of the BIS wading in.

Standards also appeared in another news story this week with the announcement that Taiwan Cement Corporation (TCC) had obtained the first cement product carbon footprint label issued by the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) in the country. Its products will be marked with carbon footprint labels from the fourth quarter of 2020.

This shows a general trend in cement products towards showing sustainability credentials from putting environmental footprint data in front of specifiers for large projects towards making it a more basic retail selling point. Lots of other cement producers around the world have done and/or are doing similar things, from the dedicated slag cement manufacturers to the larger producers routinely releasing and promoting new low-CO₂ products. To pick one example from many, in July 2020 LafargeHolcim France introduced ‘360Score CO₂ emissions reduction ratings’ to its bagged cement range. The score, between ’A’ and ’D,’ corresponds to the factor of CO₂ compared to CEM-I Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC), with ‘A’ products producing less CO₂ than ‘D’ products in their overall creation.

To look at an older example of the need for standards generally, building collapses in Nigeria appeared to increase post-2000, with the misuse of lower-grade cements blamed for the situation. The Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) took action in 2014, local producers introduced higher strength cements and the problem was reduced. Given the intangible nature of measuring sustainability in cement products there is a need for reliable standards. Unlike performance metrics, such as a strength or durability, the CO₂ footprint of a cement product will generally remain utterly intangible for most end-users. The effects of CO₂ emissions are continually analysed and debated, but the negative climate effects of cement products are more akin to someone else’s house flooding on the other side of the world 50 years later, than one’s own house falling down a decade later due to using the wrong strength cement. So, some form of trustworthy enforcement for sustainability standards is crucial. Standards may represent ‘boring’ bureaucratic red tape at its most officious but we need them. In India and elsewhere though, the debate on enforcement continues.

Taiwan: Taiwan Cement has been awarded the first product carbon footprint label by the local Environmental Protection Administration (EPA). It follows its completion of the structure of product category rules (PCR) in early August 2020 and inspection by the EPA. TCC's products will be marked with carbon footprint labels from the fourth quarter of 2020. The Taiwan-based cement producer has also announced support for the Global Cement and Concrete Association’s (GCCA) 2050 Climate Ambition plan.

TCC started its Science-Based Target project in 2019 and says it became the first cement company in the Greater China region to complete target setting and was approved by Science-Based Target initiatives (SBTi) in June 2020. Following the science-based methods promoted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) from the United Nations, TCC set a target to reduce carbon emissions by 11% in 2025, using 2016 emissions as the base. TCC completed carbon footprint certification for the most popular cement products, Portland Type I cement and Ready-Mixed Concrete 3000psi, in July 2020.

Taiwan: Asia Cement has bought all shares in Taiwan Chiahui Power Corporation belonging to co-owner Electric Power Development Company (J-Power). Electronic News has reported that the two companies have jointly owned Taiwan Chiahui Power Corporation since December 2002. The deal awaits ratification by the Taiwan Ministry of Economic Affairs Investment Commission.