Displaying items by tag: Votorantim Cimentos

Brazil: Votorantim Cimentos has received and begun installing a new cement mill at its Salto de Pirapora plant near São Paulo as part of its US$878m national expansion programme.

The 210t mill took six months to arrive from China via ship, and was then transported by a truck convoy from the Port of Santos to the plant. The mill will increase the plant’s capacity by 1Mt/yr. The unit is part of the Salto-Santa Helena complex, which will see its capacity grow by 20% when the expansion completes in the second half of 2025. Construction began in the first half of 2024.

General manager Rafael Frederico said “We are celebrating a new phase in the expansion project of the Salto de Pirapora plant with the arrival of the mill and all the equipment for assembling the new mill. The operation to transport the equipment from China to our unit was complex and executed with great operational excellence by our multidisciplinary teams and partners.”

Brazil: Votorantim Cimentos recorded sales of 7.7Mt of cement in the first quarter of 2025, up by 2% year-on-year. Revenues rose by 1% year-on-year in local currency terms, to US$998m. The producer partly attributed the growth to its on-going geographical diversification. Nonetheless, its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell by 14% year-on-year to US$107m, resulting in a net loss of US$58m. Votorantim Cimentos invested US$97.6m in capital expenditure during the quarter, including commencing kiln upgrades at its Alconera and Málaga plants in Spain, up by 35% year-on-year. It expects to commission its newly expanded Salto de Pirapora and Edealina cement plants in Brazil later in 2025 and in early 2026 respectively.

CEO Osvaldo Ayres said “Our financial strength and discipline in capital allocation have enabled us to navigate this volatile global environment. At the same time, we continued to maintain our focus on the long term through our programme of investments in capacity expansion, structural competitiveness and acceleration of new businesses.”

It’s been a strong start to 2025 for the Brazilian cement sector. The National Cement Industry Union (SNIC) reported recently that cement sales in the first quarter of 2025 have been the strongest since 2015. Producers sold 15.6Mt in the three month period, a rise of 5.9% year-on-year from 14.7Mt in the same period in 2024.

The result has been attributed to a growing real estate market boosted by housing schemes such as the ongoing Minha Casa Minha Vida programme. SNIC also noted a growing labour market and wage increases, although sales from infrastructure projects failed to keep up. Unfortunately, SNIC is wary of whether the positive news will continue in the second half of 2025. Risks such as interest rates, growing general debt levels and the effects of any potential international trade wars all lie ahead.

Graph 1: Cement production in Brazil, 2017 - 2024. Production estimated for 2024 based on National Cement Industry Union (SNIC) preliminary data on sales. Source: SNIC.

Based on preliminary SNIC data from December 2024, the country likely had its best year in 2024 since the market peaked in the mid-2010s. Cement sales were reported to have risen by 3.9% to 64.7Mt in 2024. Consumption was 73Mt. An estimate of production based on the same rate of growth suggests that cement production may have grown to 69Mt in 2024 from 66.5Mt in 2023.

The three main cement companies - Votorantim Cimentos, InterCement and CSN - each reported domestic earnings growth in 2024. In Votorantim’s case net revenue in Brazil was flat in 2024 at US$1.39bn but its adjusted earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) increased by 4% year-on-year to US$390m supported by higher prices, volumes and lower costs. InterCement has been in a debt resolution process since December 2024, which will be discussed below. Its sales volumes of cement were flat at 8.6Mt and sales revenue fell by 6.6% to US$557m. Yet, adjusted EBITDA rose by 10.2% to US$135m. CSN’s sales volumes of cement increased by 5.9% to 13.5Mt and its cement business sales revenue by 5.7% to US$810m. However, its adjusted EBITDA zoomed ahead by 39.5% to US$231m. The group attributed its higher sales volumes of cement to its strategy of focusing on logistics and distribution centres to target new markets, build market share and boost synergies.

As covered by Global Cement Weekly previously, InterCement has been trying to sell assets since at least the early 2010s. High debt levels have been a problem more recently and the company entered into judicial recovery, a court-led debt recovery process, in December 2024. How this process plays out should inform the nature of any subsequent divestment of assets. InterCement attempted to sell its subsidiary in Argentina, Loma Nega, to CSN in 2024. Unfortunately, this reportedly failed due to the appreciation of Loma Negra and due to disagreements between bondholders and shareholders of parent company Mover, according to the Valor Econômico newspaper. At home in Brazil, Buzzi, CSN, Huaxin Cement, Polimix, Vicat and Votorantim have all been linked to a potential sale of InterCement assets in a piecemeal fashion. Votorantim, in particular, is expected to face opposition from the local competition regulator CADE if it attempted to buy all of InterCement’s cement plants.

It’s positive to see the cement industry in Brazil starting to reach the sales levels last recorded in 2014. SNIC, understandably, isn't taking anything for granted. It’s warned of more modest growth in 2025, compared to the strong opening quarter, with levels forecast to be somewhere between 1 - 1.5%. It says that this will depend on the “evolution of the economy, monetary policy and investments in infrastructure and housing.” It has also warned of “uncertainties arising from the US.” The other big ‘if’ is whether InterCement can actually start selling cement plants in 2025. Time will tell.

Tunisia: Sinoma Cement has held a ceremony marking its acquisition of the Djebel El Oust cement plant. Karim Brinji (Governor of Zaghouan), Wan Li (China’s Ambassador to Tunisia), Jalel Tabib (Director general of Foreign Investment Promotion Agency) and representatives of the company all attended the event, according to La Presse de Tunisie newspaper. The China-based company acquired a share worth US$140m in the plant from Votorantim Cimentos at the start of April 2025. It also plans to upgrade the plant.

Brazil: Votorantim Cimentos has reported that it ended 2024 with global CO₂ emissions of 550kg/t of cementitious material produced, a reduction of 28% compared to 1990, the baseline year used by the cement industry. The level reflects a 1% year-on-year decrease from 556kg/t in 2023. Votorantim Cimentos’ 2030 decarbonisation target, approved by the Science Based Target initiative (SBTi), is 475kg/t of cementitious product.

Votorantim Cimentos’ global thermal substitution rate (TSR) was 32% in 2024, an increase over 2023’s TSR of 31%. Its 2030 target is 53%. The company’s clinker factor was 72.5%, a slight fall compared to 73% in 2023. Its 2030 goal is 68%. 34% of the electricity consumed by Votorantim Cimentos in 2024 came from renewable sources, the same as in 2023. The company’s goal is to have 45% of the energy consumed globally come from renewable sources by 2030.

Álvaro Lorenz, Global Director of Sustainability, Institutional Relations, Product Development, Engineering and Energy, said “Globally, we have made progress in pilot projects for CO₂ capture, installed new co-processing and renewable energy sites and systems, and launched low-carbon products. All these efforts will contribute toward our decarbonisation journey and help us achieve our goal of producing carbon-neutral concrete by 2050.”

Tunisia: Votorantim Cimentos has completed the full sale of its assets in Tunisia to China-based Sinoma Cement. Votorantim Cimentos operates the Ciments de Jbel Oust plant in Tunisia. The transaction follows the fulfilment of precedent conditions, including regulatory approvals in China, Tunisia and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA). Delivery of the assets and financial settlement were also concluded.

Brazil: Votorantim Cimentos grew its revenue and earnings in 2024 but its net income dropped significantly due to interest rate volatility. It noted ‘positive performance’ in its Europe and Asia region and a stable market in Brazil. It attributed its mounting earnings to its balanced portfolio, revenue in Europe and Asia, operational efficiency, reduced costs and new business.

The group’s net revenue grew by 3% year-on-year to US$4.69bn in 2024 from US$4.53bn in 2023. However, revenue fell slightly in local currencies due to negative exchange effects, particularly in North America. Cement sales volumes rose by 1% to 35.4Mt from 34.9Mt. Adjusted earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) increased by 16% to US$1.14bn from US$0.99bn. Earnings rose in all regions except for Latin America due to a ‘challenging’ market in Uruguay and lower prices in Bolivia. Despite this, its adjusted net income dropped by 17% to US$383m from US$461m.

“We ended the year with record-high operating results, supported by our geographic, product and business diversification, in line with our strategic mandate,” said Osvaldo Ayres, the group’s global CEO. The company invested over US$550m in 2024 towards decarbonisation, competitiveness and new businesses. A further US$880m investment plan in Brazil to 2028 was announced in early 2024. Ongoing projects include upgrades supporting higher thermal substitution rates at the Xambioá plant in Tocantins state and the Salto de Pirapora plant in São Paulo. A new 1Mt/yr cement grinding unit is being built at the Salto de Pirapora site. Construction of this project is scheduled for completion in the second-half of 2025. A new 1Mt/yr cement grinding unit was also announced at the Edealina plant in Goiás. This project is expected to be completed in the first half of 2026.

Votorantim also revealed that it paid around US$190m to the Administrative Council for Economic Defense (CADE) at the end of 2024 in connection with an agreement to end all administrative and judicial litigation. It said “We definitively resolved all pending disputes with CADE. We did not acknowledge, at any time, having committed any unlawful act or engaged in any anticompetitive behaviour.”

US: MTR Carbon Capture says that St Marys Cement’s Charlevoix plant in Michigan will be the first cement plant in the world to deploy its Polaris polymeric membrane-based technology. The pilot project aims to capture 3t/day of CO₂ during a six month testing period. It intends to demonstrate that a 95% CO₂ capture rate is achievable.

US-based Membrane Technology and Research (MTR) specialises in the development and production of membrane-based separation systems for the petrochemical, natural gas and refining industries. The company was set up in 1982 and has its headquarters in Newark, California.

Canada: St Marys Cement, Votorantim Cimentos’ North American subsidiary, has ordered SpectraFlow Analytics’ Airslide analyser for its Bowmanville cement plant in Ontario. The analyser will replace the plant’s existing XRF Atline system installed at the back end of the plant’s 450t/hr raw materials mill. It will provide continuous one-minute sampling results, without the need to prepare samples separately. This in turn will facilitate real-time adjustments to the line’s additive weight feeders.

SpectraFlow Analytics says that its equipment will now be installed at plants across 30 countries globally.

Canada: St Marys Cement has appointed Ali Firat as the Director, Operations at its Bowmanville cement plant in Ontario.

Firat previously worked as the Plant Manager at Traçim Çiment’s at Vize, Kirklareli in Türkiye. Before this he was a Production Manager for OYAK Cement. Earlier in his career he spent about 15 years working for Traçim Çiment and Ladik Cement in a variety of production roles. He is a graduate of the Middle East Technical University in Ankara and holds a master of business administration (MBA) from Bahcesehir University in Istanbul.