Displaying items by tag: US

Italy: Buzzi Unicem’s net sales grew by 17.2% year-on-year to Euro800m in the first quarter of 2022 from Euro682m in the same period in 2021. Its cement and ready-mixed concrete sales volumes rose by 2.9% to 6.36Mt and 6% to 2.69Mm³ respectively. The group reported growing sales volumes in Central Europe, Poland, the Czech Republic and the US but it noted a slowdown in Italy. Sales volumes were also disrupted in Ukraine and Russia due to the ongoing war between the countries. The group added that its prices were ‘markedly’ up in all markets where it operates to offset rising prices of raw materials and energy.

The company said that in Ukraine it was forced to suspend nearly all of the production and commercial activities at both of its plants when Russia invaded the country. In Russia it said that retaliatory economic sanctions led by the US and European Union had led to a “significant revision of the country's growth prospects.” Local sales volumes significantly slowed down in March 2022 after hostilities started but local operations still managed to report some growth in sales even in spite negative currency exchange effects. Buzzi Unicem said that, “Due to the sanctions imposed on Russia by the European institutions, we decided to immediately withdraw from any operational involvement in the activities carried out by the subsidiary OOO SLK Cement in Russia. Consequently, further strategic initiatives in the country will be suspended.”

France: Fives’ Process Technologies division’s commercial activities, including those to the cement market, have improved in 2021 following recovery in market confidence following the start of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020. Its order intake increased by 43% year-on-year to Euro702m in 2021 from Euro490m in 2020. Its sales fell by 2% to Euro623m from Euro637m. Its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose by 63%. In the cement sector, Fives said that the North American market had been active. It reported ‘significant’ orders in Mexico, partly in response to the growing US market driven by the government’s infrastructure bill that was approved in late 2021. Fives also noted growth in Canada, where several companies are working towards carbon neutral production.

Overall, across all market divisions, Fives’ order intake, sales and earnings increased in 2021.

Greece: Titan Cement recorded consolidated sales of Euro455m in the first quarter of 2022, up by 23% year-on-year from Euro371m in the first quarter of 2021. Due to a 29% increase in its cost of sales to Euro395m from Euro307m, the group’s earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell by 17% to Euro46.4m from Euro56.1m.

The producer noted ‘significant’ cement volumes growth in its USA region, including ‘progress’ in its lower carbon footprint cement sales. Titan Cement increased its prices across its regions, and will raise prices again ‘in most markets’ by mid-2022.

US: The state governments of Arizona, Maryland and Vermont have approved the use of Portland limestone cement (PLC) in public construction projects. The rule changes bring the total number of states in which PLC may be used in this way to 44.

The Portland Cement Association (PCA) has welcomed the decision. The association said "Widespread acceptance of PLC marks a significant step to reducing the carbon footprint of concrete construction and advancing the goals laid out in the PCA Roadmap to Carbon Neutrality."

World: The Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA) has named its first six startups to receive backing under the inaugural Innovandi Open Challenge. The startups have partnered with GCCA members to help increase cement’s sustainability towards achieving net zero CO₂ concrete production by 2050. This will lead to the formation of six consortia to further test, develop and deploy their new technologies.

Carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) startups CarbonOrO, MOF Technologies and Saipem, all based in Europe, are among the participants. GCCA members are currently involved in dozens of pilot projects and aim to have 10 industrial-scale carbon capture plants installed by 2030. Other startups Carbon Upcycling Technologies and Fortera, from Canada and the US respectively, use captured CO₂ to produce low-carbon cement and cementitious materials, while UK-based Coomtech has developed a low-cost drying technology using turbulent air.

GCCA CEO Thomas Guillot said “It’s a proud moment to see the industry coming together to support such innovative start-ups on their journey. Our member companies were greatly impressed by their ambition to be a key part of the climate solution. The programme is another big step forward towards unlocking innovation to help us achieve our net zero goal.” He continued “As the need for resilient and sustainable communities to support a growing global population becomes more pressing , cement and concrete will be essential to providing the infrastructure and buildings that society needs. Achieving net zero concrete relies on a number of different groups playing their part, and as an industry we’re looking outwards as well as inwards, to see how start-ups like these can support our goals.”

Italy: Cementir’s revenue rose by 21% year-on-year to Euro362m in the first quarter of 2022 from Euro301m in the same period in 2021. It attributed this to higher prices linked to the increase in the costs of fuels, electricity, raw materials, transport and services. Its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) grew by 26% to Euro60.7m from Euro48.1m. Grey, white and clinker sales volumes increased by 1.8% to 2.4Mt and ready-mixed concrete sales volume remained stable at 1.13Mm³. Cement sales volumes grew in Belgium, Denmark and the US but fell in Turkey. Concrete sales volumes grew in Belgium and Norway but fell in Turkey, Sweden and Denmark.

US: Cemex USA has applied for a permit to continue mining at Dowe Flats to support operations at its integrated Lyons cement plant in Colorado. It has asked the Boulder County Community Planning and Permitting department to allow it continue mining for 15 years until 2037, according to the Daily Camera newspaper. It then says it will close the cement plant. Its existing mining permit will end later in 2022.

US: The Portland Cement Association (PCA) has received the 2022 Energy Star Partner of the Year award from the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Energy. This is the third year in a row that PCA has earned this award.

"We are proud to have won this award for the third consecutive year. This latest award confirms our commitment to reducing cement sector CO₂ emissions through longstanding, long-term efforts to improve energy efficiency," said Michael Ireland, president and chief executive officer of the PCA. "This award shows once again that the cement and concrete industries are leading the way toward a more sustainable future, even as demand for our products grows."

The 2022 Energy Star Partner of the Year Award follows the launch of PCA's Roadmap to Carbon Neutrality in October 2021. In addition to PCA's recognition, two member companies also earned awards. CalPortland and Cemex won Partner of the Year awards in the energy management category. This is the fifth year in a row that Cemex has won this award, and the 18th successive year for CalPortland.

US: Argos USA has launched its new Portland Limestone Cement (PLC) brand EcoStrong.The company says the its will complete its conversion to 100% EcoStrong PLC cement production across all facilities in 2023.Its Roberta, Alabama cement plant and Atlanta, Georgia grinding plant will transition by mid-2022, while its Newberry, Florida cement plant will transition by October 2022.Argos USA plans to use EcoStrong cement at all of its Eastern US ready-mix concretesites by mid-2022.

Cement technical director Steve Wilcox said“I am excited to be part of Argos’ brand announcement for our PLC Type IL product. EcoStrong PLC encompasses everything we have worked for over the past decade, to offer a high-quality product with lower embodied carbon, which contributes to the ultimate goal of decarbonising across our operations. Our PLC product is engineered to reduce the harmful effects on the environment and perform similar to or better than our ordinaryPortland cement (OPC) Type I/II. EcoStrong PLC empowers our customers, specifiers, architects, and engineers to design and execute their projects with resilience and sustainability.”

Cement shortages were being reported in the US media last week in Alabama and South Carolina. The owner of a ready-mixed concrete supplier in South Carolina was blaming it on labour and supply shortages. Dan Crosby, the president of Metrocon, told Fox News that his business could only take on 60% of the work it could normally cope with due to the issue despite demand for construction growing in the state. Meanwhile, the Alabama Concrete Industries Association said that its home state saw a 14% increase in the demand for concrete in 2021 but that a cement shortage might cause delays to projects. The association also pointed the blame at labour and supply issues. It pointed out that high demand for concrete during the winter prevented inventory being built up and then the annual cement plant maintenance breaks in the spring added to the problems. Once contractors actually secured supplies of cement they then faced further delays due to a nationwide truck driver shortage!

Graph 1: Annual rolling cement shipments in the South of the US. Source: USGS.

Data from the United States Geological Survey (USGS) doesn’t especially shed light on the situation in Alabama and South Carolina. Alabama was the fifth largest cement producing state in the country in January 2022 but this is unsurprising as it’s the state with the fifth largest cement production capacity. Rolling annual data on Portland and blended cement shipments by origin show the effects of the coronavirus outbreak in the south from the start of 2020 to January 2022. Shipments took a dive in 2020 and then mostly recovered in 2021. However, Alabama, Kentucky and Tennessee saw shipments rise from 7.1Mt pre-pandemic to 7.6Mt in January 2022. South Carolina’s shipments grew from 3Mt to 3.2Mt. Regionally, the North East had a similar pattern although, unlike the South, shipments have surpassed those at the start of 2020. The Midwest and West were different with a general upwards trend over the two years, although the West softened slightly from mid-2021 onwards. Overall the US as a whole has seen its shipments grow throughout this period.

Ed Sullivan from the Portland Cement Association (PCA) told the May 2022 issue of Global Cement Magazine that the US cement sector did well in 2021 with a 4.1% year-on-year rise in sales to 104Mt. However, he flagged up supply chain problems that actually slowed growth, led by a lack of staff.

The other point along these lines that Sullivan made was that imports of cement might not necessarily be able to compensate for domestic supply issues due to global demand for shipping post-coronavirus. USGS data placed imports to the US at 13.7Mt in 2019 compared to 16.3Mt in 2021. Notably, Cemex restarted one production line in 2021 at its CPN cement plant in Sonora State in Mexico to export cement to the west of the US. In March 2022 it added that it was going to restart another line at the plant also. It’s not alone though as GCC reported in January 2022 that a line at one of its plants in Chihuahua, Mexico, was exporting cement to Texas. Sullivan reckoned that January 2022 was ‘weak’ but that it was followed by an ‘extremely strong’ February 2022. The first quarter results from Holcim and CRH seem to back this up with the former describing the period as ‘outstanding’ and the region leading its sales and earnings growth rate globally. CRH reported strong demand in central and southern regions.

As the US economy restarted following the peak of the early coronavirus waves in 2020, various supply chain issues have manifested. Staff shortages are one issue and this can also worsen other logistic problems. The south seems particularly vulnerable to all of this as it is both the country’s largest cement market and because demand has held up. In January 2022 research by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) identified several reasons for staff shortages in the US and the UK. These included increased inactivity among older workers, the so called ‘She-cession’ (where female employment has overly reduced due to coronavirus trends) and shifting worker preferences amid strong labour demand.

Staff shortages are expected to sort themselves out throughout 2022 but favourable forecast demand for cement in the US is balanced by inflationary pressure. Persistent low staffing levels could further add to inflation growth. The US cement sector may be doing well at the moment but even success carries risks.

Global Cement’s Robert McCaffrey will be giving a keynote presentation at the IEEE-PCA Cement Conference in Las Vegas on Tuesday 3 May 2022. The May 2022 issue of Global Cement Magazine, including interviews with PCA chief executive officer Mike Ireland and chief economist Ed Sullivan, is available to download now.