Displaying items by tag: Votorantim Cimentos

Brazil: Votorantim Cimentos has inaugurated a new cement plant at Primavera in Pará state. The US$258m plant has a production capacity of 1.2Mt/yr. It will serve the North and Northeast regions of Brazil.

“This plant in Primavera is part of Votorantim Cimentos’ major investment plan. Despite the challenging situation in Brazil, we are moving forward with our long-term vision and our confidence in the development of the country,” said Walter Dissinger, CEO of Votorantim Cimentos. Construction of the plant also included a social investment programme in the local area that invested US$3m towards a local library, schools and a health centre.

The new operation is part of the company’s expansion plan, which will increase its global capacity to approximately 59Mt/yr by the end of 2018, in line with the company’s plan of geographic diversification. This expansion plan adds to investments of US$3.6bn made between 2007 and 2015, which resulted in a 94% increase in global production capacity.

The investment plan to 2018 also includes expansions at Charlevoix in the US, Sivas in Turkey and a new cement plant at Yacuses in Bolivia. The company is also expanding in the San Luis region of Argentina.

LafargeHolcim has officially opened a new cement line at its Barossa cement plant in Brail. It is unfortunate timing given that the Brazilian cement industry has not had an easy time of it of late. The wider economy in the country has been in recession since it was hit by falling commodity and oil prices and gross domestic product (GDP) fell by 3.8% in 2015. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has predicted currently that the GDP will fall by a similar amount in 2016. Alongside this, the Petrobras corruption inquiry has enveloped construction companies and led to the suspension of president of Dilma Rousseff. The Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística (IBGE) reported that the national construction industry contracted by 7.6% in 2015.

Graph 1: Brazilian cement production from 2011 to 2015. Source: SNIC.

Graph 2: Brazilian cement production by quarter from 2015 to March 2016. Source: SNIC.

Graph 1 summarises, with National Union of the Cement Industry (SNIC) data, what happened to cement production in 2015. It fell by 9.6% to 64.4Mt in 2015 from 71.3Mt in 2014. Unfortunately, as Graph 2 shows, the downward production trend is accelerating into 2016. Production fell by 5.76% year-on-year to 15.6Mt in the first quarter of 2015 from 17.1Mt in the first quarter of 2014. Now, production has fallen by 11% to 13.9Mt in the first quarter of 2016. April 2016 figures also appear to be following the same trend.

Amidst these conditions Votorantim somehow managed to hold its cement business revenue up; increasing it by 6% to US$3.82bn in 2015. Despite this its cement sales volumes fell by 6% to 35Mt. As a result, Votorantim announced plans to temporarily shutdown kilns and plants and sell off selected concrete assets. Cimento Tupi reported that its cement and clinker sales volumes fell by 23% to 1631Mt in 2015 from 2119Mt in 2014. It blamed the fall of the ‘retraction’ of the cement market and a wide-scale maintenance campaign it had implemented on its kilns. Its revenue fell by 26% to US$98.8m from US$134m.

LafargeHolcim pulled no punches when it blamed challenging conditions in Brazil for dragging its financial results down globally in 2015. It didn’t release any specific figures for the country but it described its cement volumes as falling ‘significantly’ with competition and cost inflation adding to the chaos. This has gotten worse in the first quarter of 2016 with volumes further affected. Its cement sales volumes in Latin America fell by 10.7% year-on-year for the period principally due to Brazil. Companhia Siderúrgica Nacional (CSN) has reported an 8% rise in production to 531,000t in the first quarter of 2016 and an 8% rise in sales volumes to 571,000t in the same period. This was partly achieved by the ramp-up of production at its new plant at Arcos in Minas Gerais.

In the wider cement supplier sector the knock-on from falling cement demand has hit refractory manufacturer Magnesita. Its revenue fell by 17% year-on-year to US$66.9m for the first quarter of 2016. This was due to falling steel production in various territories and the negative effects of the construction market in Brazil hurting its cement customers.

It is unsurprising that companies like LafargeHolcim commissioned new capacity in Brail a few years ago given the promise the market seemed to hold. Both the CSN project at Arcos and Holcim’s Barroso project were announced in 2012 near the height of the market. Both are also based in Minas Gerais, the country’s biggest cement producing state. Predicting both the drop in the international commodities markets and a local political crisis would have been hard to predict. All these producers can do now is sit back and wait out the situation with their efficiency gains until the construction rates pick up again. Hopefully the first quarter results for Brazil’s two leading cement producers, Votorantim and InterCement, will not be too depressing.

Brazil: Votorantim’s cement sales volumes fell by 6% year-on-year to 35Mt in 2015 from 37Mt in 2014. However, net revenue from the group’s cement business rose by 6% to US$3.82bn. The Brazilian industrial group blamed the loss of sales volumes on the poor economic situation in Brazil. However, its revenue rallied due to currency variations and growing sales outside of Brazil.

Overall across all business sectors Votorantim reported that its revenue rose by 11% to US$8.57bn. This was supported by higher metal prices in Brazil and positive effects from the consolidation of the group’s foreign operations. Net income dropped by 77% to US$103m

Brazil: Votorantim Cimentos has launched a new portfolio of bagged cement for the Brazilian market. The launch follows research with construction professionals and stakeholders. The company then set up a multidisciplinary group to develop its new portfolio of bagged cement from a consumer's viewpoint.

Specific products have been developed for different types of construction work. ‘Obras Estruturais’ is intended for foundations, columns, beams and structures. ‘Todas as Obras’ is intended for plasters, subfloors and slabs. ‘Obras Básicas’ is intended for repairs and renovations without structural function. ‘Obras Especiais’ is intended for industrial use as pavers, precast and artifacts. ‘Obras Especiais em Meios Agressivos’ is intended for coastal areas, pipes and sewage treatment facilities.

“For the non-specialist consumer, buying cement will be easier, more convenient and safer. For retailers and professional workers, this will bring more confidence in their recommendations, ensuring high quality and productivity at the construction site,” said Walter Dissinger, Global CEO of Votorantim Cimentos.

Turkey: Votorantim has placed an order for a type LM 48.4 Loesche mill for grinding cement at its Sivas 2 RM project at its Sivas cement plant. The order was placed on behalf of Votorantim by the Tianjin Cement Industry Design & Research Institute (TDI).

The raw mill will be designed with a capacity of 420t/hr and the material will be ground to a fineness of 14% R90μm. The gearbox will have a power output of 2860kW. The engineering for the cyclone separators is also included in the scope of supply. The lead time for the main components of the mill is eight months and the gearbox will be supplied within the next nine months. The commissioning of the vertical roller mill is planned for the end of 2017.

Previous collaborations between Votoranim and Loesche include projects at cement plants in Rio Branco, Laranjeiras, Salto de Pirapora, Primavera, Edealina and Cuiaba.

Brazil: The office of the Superintendent-general of the antitrust watchdog Cade has recommended a penalty with fines to Votorantim, Holcim and Cimento Tupi for a coordinated refusal to sell certain types of cement in São Paulo state. According to the office, these companies damaged free competition and made it hard for potential competitors to enter the market.

The office also said that there was not enough evidence against Cimentos Liz, Cibrasa, Ciplan, Cimpor, Itabira, Itaguassu, Itambe, Ibacip, Itapessoca, Itapicuru, Itapetinga, Itapicuru, Itapissuma, Itautinga, Intercement and Lafarge and that the administrative process should be dismissed. Cade's own tribunal will have the final decision on whether the cement firms will be fined or not.

Nine-month financial results from the major Brazilian cement producers have been reported this week and they are not looking good. The local construction market is weak and cement sales volumes are down. This has been blamed on a 30% shrinkage of real estate financing and a 20% decrease in infrastructure works.

Votorantim has seen its cement sales volumes drop by 4% year-on-year to 26.7Mt for the first nine months of 2015. InterCement has seen its cement and clinker sales volumes drop by 7.2% to 21.1Mt. LafargeHolcim has reported unspecified declines in its cement sector in its disappointing third quarter results.

Overall, the Sindicato Nacional Da Indústria Do Cimento (SNIC) - Brazil's cement industry body, has reported that domestic cement sales fell by 7.7% to 49.2Mt for the period. Particular sales drops by region have been observed in the Midwest (5.8Mt, -11.2%) and the Southeast (22.8Mt, -9.4%). That last region, Southeast, is pertinent given that it contains the country's biggest cement producing state, Minas Gerais.

Votorantim has been pointing out all year that its costs are soaring due to issues in Brazil. Maintenance costs, energy-related costs and the impact of the depreciation of the Brazilian Real on petcoke were all hitting costs. Net revenue has grown so far in 2015, with a growth of 5% to US$2.75bn, mainly due to the company's geographic spread outside of Brazil.

InterCement has noted that new cement production capacity in north-eastern and southern markets have reduced its sales volumes and prices by 1.7%. It too has experienced a rise in energy costs, pegged to the US Dollar. To act against this InterCement is implementing adjustment measures including suspending production at two grinding units and the closure of concrete units.

Alongside this Camargo Corrêa, the Brazilian construction group that owns InterCement, has been planning to sell a stake in InterCement to pay off debt since at least mid-2015. At the time local media reported that Camargo Corrêa planned to sell 10 – 18% of Intercement for between US$648m and US$1.17bn. CEO Vitor Hallack confirmed this week that Camargo Corrêa is still looking for a buyer. In the meantime it has extended US$536m of its short-term debt.

All of this is mirrored by wider economic woes in the country. In October 2015 the International Monetary Fund projected a 3% drop in real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2015. The situation has been blamed on a wider world economy, the slowing Chinese economy and internal factors.

Back on cement, in July 2015, SNIC announced that domestic cement demand could contract by 10 - 15% in 2015 and that consumption could fall to around 60Mt in 2016. Brazil's cement production capacity currently stands at 70.75Mt/yr. Perhaps not coincidentally LafargeHolcim announced a 'portfolio optimisation' in its third quarter results with asset sales of US$3.5bn in 2016. Brazil may be on that list.

For more information on the Brazilian cement industry look out for our report in the December 2015 issue of Global Cement Magazine

Brazil: Votorantim Industrial, Brazil's largest industrial conglomerate, has posted a net loss for the third quarter of 2015 due to the impact of a deep economic recession and rising US Dollar debt-servicing costs after a currency plunge, according to Reuters.

Votorantim posted a net loss of US$22m, down sharply from a profit of US$155m a year earlier. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation fell by a third to US$429m from a year ago, when Votorantim booked one-time earnings from an energy auction. The Brazilian Real fell to an all-time low in the third quarter of 2015, driving up Votorantim's gross debt by US$1.88bn to US$8.06bn at the end of September 2015.

Chief Executive Officer João Miranda highlighted investments outside of Brazil as the country suffers its sharpest economic contraction in 25 years. "In the face of Brazil's economic recession, our diversified business and international presence become even more important in delivering consistent results," said Miranda. Votorantim's capital spending rose by 55% to US$246m in the quarter, half of which was intended to expand capacity, particularly at cement plants outside of Brazil.

Brazil: Votorantim Cimentos has inaugurated a 206,000t/yr mortar plant at the Camacari industrial hub, in Salvador, north-eastern Brazil. This is Votorantim's sixth unit in operation in north-east Brazil and it received US$6.48m in investment. The plant will generate 80 direct and indirect jobs.

Brazil/Turkey: Votorantim Cimentos has announced investment plans of up to US$158m to expand its business in Turkey. As well as tripling the output of its cement plant in Sivas, Votorantim may set up or acquire a new plant to tap the growth potential of Turkey's construction sector, according to company officials.

"The investment in our Sivas plant will boost production capacity to 1.8Mt/yr, up from its current level of 600,000t/yr. Following the upgrade, the Sivas plant will account for 42% of Votorantim's cement production capacity in Turkey," said Sefik Tuzun, Votorantim Turkey's CEO. "Votorantim sees the potential of Turkey's construction sector and this investment shows our commitment to reinforcing our presence in Turkey. Sivas' expansion will bring a crucial dynamism and competitiveness to the company in the Turkish cement market."

The capacity upgrade will be completed by April 2017. The construction works for the extension will create employment for 700 people. Votorantim Turkey is active in cement production as well as concrete and aggregate businesses in the country, accounting for a share of about 29% of Votorantim Cimentos' total production capacity, excluding China.