
Displaying items by tag: Tunisia
Update on Italy, February 2025
12 February 2025Alpacem said this week that it had completed its acquisition of the Fanna cement plant near Pordenone. The 0.66Mt/yr integrated plant and a number of ready-mixed concrete plants became part of the Austria-headquartered group at the start of February 2025. Alpacem now has three integrated plants, with units at Wietersdorf in Austria and Anhovo in Slovenia, in addition to Fanna.
The deal dates back to mid-2023 when Alpacem said it had signed an agreement with Buzzi. In return Buzzi was set to receive a 25% stake in Alpacem Zement Austria. Prior to this the two companies had a strategic partnership in Austria and Slovenia that dated back to 2014. At the time of the agreement Buzzi held a 25% share in each of two Alpacem subsidiaries: Salonit Anhovo in Slovenia; and W&P Cementi in Italy. The Fanna plant was originally owned by Cementizillo before it was bought by Buzzi in 2018.
Also this week, Federbeton warned that the high cost of gas would add €80m/yr to the cost of cement production. Nicola Zampella, General Manager of Federbeton and the cement association AITEC, noted that local energy costs would reduce the competitiveness of producers against imports from outside of the European Union (EU). This ties into comments Stefano Gallini, the president of Federbeton, made in December 2024 when he highlighted the growing share of imports from outside the EU.
Federbeton raised the issue in its annual report for 2023, showing that imports rose to a 19% production share in 2023. Italy produced 18.8Mt of and imported 3.6Mt of cement and clinker in 2023. This is its highest level of imports for at least a decade. Over the same period the country’s cement exports, as a share of production, have remained steady at around 10 - 11%. In 2023 Türkiye was the biggest source of imports (25%) followed by Greece (17%), Slovenia (17%), Tunisia (12%) and Algeria (10%).
Graph 1: Cement production, imports and exports in Italy, 2019 - 2023. Source: Federbeton.
It is worth recalling that the cement sector in Italy used to be larger before it started consolidating in the late 2000s. Italcementi was acquired by Germany-based Heidelberg Materials. Operations by Sacci, Cementir and Cemenzillo were all bought out too. Local cement production reached a high of 47.9Mt in 2006 before it stabilised at around 20Mt/yr from 2015 onwards.
In its preliminary results for 2024, out this week too, Buzzi reported that the construction market In Italy probably shrank in 2024 due to a poor residential housing market. However, the cement company managed to keep its local net sales stable by raising prices and focusing on exports. Despite this, it noted a drop in cement and concrete sales volumes at the end of 2024. More data on the construction market in Italy may emerge when Heidelberg Materials releases its 2024 financial results at the end of February 2025.
The backdrop to this has been a rise in gas prices in Europe towards the end of 2024 as the EU ‘emergency’ price cap finished on 31 January 2025. Around the same time the EU is preparing to reveal information on its Clean Industry Deal towards the end of February 2025. Plus, the first active phase of EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) is preparing to enter into force from the start of 2026. Each of these issues has implications for the cement sector in Italy as the location associations have been highlighting. One question will be whether the Clean Industry Deal can help producers cope with mounting energy prices. Another will be whether CBAM will change the proportion of imports for countries like Italy or will the sources of the imports simply change. Plenty to consider for the year ahead.
Carthage Cement sales down by 2% in the 2024 financial year
27 January 2025Tunisia: Carthage Cement recorded a fall in turnover of 2% year-on-year to US$133m at the end of the 2024 financial year, ‘in an economic context marked by numerous challenges’, according to local news reports. Despite this, the company recorded a rise in cement production and clinker production, to 1.82Mt (+3% year-on-year) and 1.57Mt (+1% year-o-year) respectively. Local sales rose by 2% year-on-year to US$109m, while exports fell by 30% to U$12.6m. This decrease was reportedly mainly due to a strategic decision to limit export clinker sales in view of ‘unattractive’ market conditions. The producer reduced its debt by 10% to US$101m.
Ciments de Bizerte reports fall in sales
13 November 2024Tunisia: Société les Ciments de Bizerte’s local sales fell by 77.43% in the third quarter of 2024 compared with the same period in 2023, to US$1.7m in 2024. This decrease is due to the total cessation of clinker production during this period. Similarly, the total turnover of Société Les Ciments de Bizerte fell in the third quarter of 2024 due to the domestic sales situation and a total absence of exports. As a result of the company’s ongoing financial crisis, it has not been able to meet its commitments to suppliers or its bank debts.
The company made just 16,796t of cement during the third quarter of 2024, 75,020t less than in the same period of 2023 when it produced 91,816t.
Carthage Cement reveals 2024 interim financial results
19 September 2024Tunisia: Carthage Cement has released its interim financial statements for the first half of 2024, revealing a net profit of US$11.7m, up by 48% from US$7.9m in the same period of 2023. The company's half-yearly revenues rose from US$70.8m in June 2023 to US$71.5m in June 2024. Operating profit grew by 17% to reach US$18.7m.
Tunisia: Les Ciments de Bizerte continues to face disruptions due to a financial crisis, limiting its operations to grinding imported clinker and managing petcoke shipments for third parties, African Manager News reports. Clinker production has been suspended throughout the second quarter of 2024, due to a lack of petcoke.
Cement production plummeted by 70% to 33,282t in the second quarter of 2024 from 109,855t during the same period in 2023. Lime production also declined by 37% due to reduced national demand. Local sales in the first half of 2024 decreased by 60% from US$16.3m in 2023 to US$6.6m in 2024, with exports completely halted during the first half of 2024. The company is in the process of paying off its debts.
Tunisia: Votorantim Cimentos has signed an agreement to sell its Tunisian assets to China-based Sinoma Cement for US$130m, according to Yicai Global. The deal's completion depends on regulatory approvals from China, Tunisia and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa).
All of Votorantim Cimentos' plants and offices in Tunisia will continue to operate as usual during the regulatory review.
Tunisia: Les Ciments de Bizerte has announced that it experienced financial difficulties during the first quarter of 2024. The company was unable to import petcoke due to a lack of cash and looming loan repayments, leading to the total suspension of clinker production. This left the company only able to grind existing clinker and operate its quay. As a result, the company’s total sales in the first quarter of 2024 fell by 53% year-on-year compared to the same period in 2023, falling from US$8.3m to US$3.9m.
CBAM: the Godzilla of carbon tariffs goes live
04 October 2023The European Union (EU) carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) started its transitional phase this week ahead of the full adoption of the scheme in 2026. Importers of goods with a high carbon cost, including cement, will have to report the direct and indirect CO2 emissions associated with production. No financial penalty will be incurred during the transition period, but from 2026 onwards importers will have to start buying certificates at the EU emissions trading scheme (ETS) price. However, even the full version of the CBAM will be phased in with the cost of embedded emissions increased gradually from 2026 to 2034. Readers can catch up on the CBAM guidance for importers here.
Graph 1: Sources of cement and clinker imports to the EU in H1 2023. Source: Eurostat/Cembureau.
Global Cement Weekly has covered the EU CBAM frequently, but it is worth remembering which countries are most likely to be affected. According to data from Eurostat and Cembureau, the EU imported just over 10Mt of cement and clinker in 2022. This compares to around 2.5Mt in 2016. Graph 1 (above) is even more instructive, as it shows where the cement and clinker came from in the first half of 2023. Most of it was manufactured in countries on the periphery of the EU with, roughly, a third from Türkiye and a third from North Africa. These are the countries with the most to lose from the CBAM.
Graph 2: CO2 emissions intensity for cement exports. Green signifies cleaner than the EU average, Red signifies more carbon intensive than the EU average. Source: World Bank.
Türkiye is the most exposed. Data from Türkçimento shows that it exported 3.4Mt of cement and clinker into the EU in 2022 or 13% of its total exports. Bulgaria, Italy and Romania were the main destinations for cement. Belgium, Spain and France were the main targets for clinker. Notably, more clinker than cement was exported to the EU. For context, in total Türkiye exported 18.5Mt and 8.5Mt of cement and clinker respectively in 2022. The US was the leading destination for Turkish cement at 9.7Mt and Ivory Coast for clinker at 1.3Mt. Türkiye seems set to tackle the problem that CBAM poses for its iron and cement sectors by introducing its own emissions trading scheme. One view expressed has been that if the country has to pay for its carbon emissions it would much rather pocket the money domestically than see it go to a foreign entity. A relative CBAM Exposure Index put together by the World Bank by June 2023 suggested that Türkiye would actually benefit slightly in comparison to some of its cement exporting rivals as the CO2 emissions intensity of its cement exports was 4.85kg CO2eq/US$. This study’s pivot point was 4.97kg CO2eq/US$, putting Türkiye just across the line for increased competitiveness.
Cement export data for Algeria is harder to find but state-owned Groupe des Ciments d'Algérie (GICA) has been regularly issuing bulletins since 2018 detailing its cement exports. It previously had an export target of 2Mt for 2023 with destinations in Africa, Europe and South and Central America. Looking more widely, research by the African Climate Foundation (ACF) and the Firoz Lalji Institute for Africa at the London School of Economics and Political Science estimated that 12% of Africa’s cement exports ended up in the EU. It reckoned that the introduction of the CBAM and an EU ETS price of Euro87/t would reduce total African exports of cement to the EU by 3 - 5% if the EU ended its ETS free allowance. The World Bank CBAM Exposure study found that Egypt and Morocco were likely to become more competitive for cement exports but Tunisia less so. Unfortunately this analysis did not cover Algeria.
The third largest individual source of imports into the EU in the first half of 2023 was Ukraine. Research from the Kiev School of Economics estimated that the start of the CBAM would reduce the export volume of cement to the EU by 2 - 5%/yr. The World Bank study found that Ukraine would become less competitive as the emissions intensity of its cement exports was 7.62kg CO2eq/US$. This would be compounded by the fact that more than 90% of the country’s cement exports ended up in the EU. However, since the EU backed the country when Russia invaded in early 2022, imposing the CBAM on exports has acquired geopolitical consequences. There has been lobbying on this issue from various sources, so this situation might be one to watch to gain a sense of how the EU might react when its sustainability aims clash with its political imperatives.
One major risk for the cement exporting countries soon to be affected by the CBAM is if other countries start to do the same in a domino effect before the exporters introduce their own carbon pricing schemes. Türkiye is clearly alert to this. Other countries are thinking the same way. The US, for example, has had senators discuss the merits of setting up its own version. It is also wise to using sustainability legislation to further its own economic ends as the Inflation Reduction Act in 2022 showed. At the moment the US needs lots of cement imports but were this to change then the case to enact a US CBAM might grow.
Finally, one should never discount the sheer amount of bureaucracy involved when dealing with the EU. The UK discovered this when it voted to leave the EU and now the rest of the world gets to enjoy it too! Christian Alexander Müller of Evonik told the Die Welt newspaper this week that Brussels had created a bureaucratic ‘Godzilla.' Another commentator noted that the European Commission only published its guidance document for importers on CBAM in mid-August 2023 and that helping export partners would be like teaching them Latin in just a few weeks. Bona fortuna!
Carthage Cement’s records increase in profit
06 September 2023Tunisia: Carthage Cement made a net profit of US$7.7m in the year to 30 June 2023, a year-on-year increase of 57% from US$4.9m a year earlier. At the end of June 2023, the company recorded total operating revenues of US$68.7m, an increase of 22% from US$56.3m.
Carthage Cement to export 1Mt of cement to the US
05 July 2023Tunisia: Carthage Cement has secured a contract to supply 1Mt of cement to a customer in the US. Emerging Market Watch News has reported that the contract will be effective from September 2023 until March 2025.