Displaying items by tag: Votorantim Cimentos

US: FCT Combustion has reported service updates to its clients in Ecuador, the US and Canada.

Hormicreto in Cuenca, Ecuador is preparing for commissioning of its G-Jet Hot Gas Generator for alternative liquid fuels firing, with a thermal capacity of 5.2MW. The system will provide hot air for the raw and cement swing mill application. FCT is responsible for the complete supply from the waste oil tank to the hot gas generator. Hormicreto is also commissioning a new riser duct natural gas firing system. FCT has also supplied two K-Jet Calciner Burners at the riser.

The Lehigh Cement Leeds plant in Alabama, US has awarded FCT with a new contract for a natural gas firing system for their riser duct. The system, rated at 30MW, will consist of a NPFA 86 Valve Train and K-JetCalciner Burner.

St Marys Cement, part of the Votorantim Group, has ordered, via Arctic Combustion, two K-Jet Calciner Burners for natural gas at the riser for its Ontario, Canada plant. The K-Jet Burner has a cutter block system that adjusts gas velocity on the fly during operation.

The CRH Mississauga plant in Canada has hired FCT to make an audit of several of its pieces of combustion equipment of the plant.

Brazil: Brazil's antitrust watchdog Cade has decided to end its investigation into 18 companies from the cement sector over alleged anti-competition practices. The allegations were that some of the companies had reached an agreement to refuse to provide three types of cement to competitors outside of an economic group, which would lead to increased prices of the products, according to the Valor Economico newspaper. Cade determined punishments were to be applied to Holcim Brasil, Cimento Tupi and Votorantim Pimentos. However, case leader Paulo Burnier decided that there insufficient evidence to apply sanctions on the majority of companies concerned. He also noted that some of the companies had already been set punishments by Cade for involvement in cartel practices.

US: St. Marys Cement’s has received inducement resolution approval from the Michigan Strategic Fund (MSF) for up to US$150m in private activity bonds to expand its Charlevoix plant in Michigan. The cement producer will now submit a more detailed plan to the MSF.

“This is great news for St Marys, its employees and customers,” said Senator Wayne Schmidt. “Not only will this project help the company to grow its Charlevoix plant and expand its capabilities to better serve customers, but it will also create new jobs in the community.”

According to MSF, the plant upgrade will expand the plant’s infrastructure to increase productivity. The project is expected to qualify for bond financing as a solid waste disposal and recycling facility. The company currently employs 232 people, and the expansion project is expected to add up to 200 jobs during construction and up to 10 permanent jobs upon completion.

Private activity bonds are a source of financial assistance to economic development projects in the state. They provide profitable firms with capital cost savings stemming from the difference between taxable and tax-exempt interest rates. A bond inducement is the first step in a bond transaction.

Brazil: Votorantim Cimentos has received Environmental Product Declarations (EPD) for five of its products. The company is the first in Brazil to obtain such certifications under the International Organization for Standardisation, according to Jornal Dia Dia. EPDs are comprised of reports about products' environmental impacts from the extraction phase to the final consumer.

Votorantim Cimentos' clients are now closer to obtaining sustainable construction certificates such as AQUA and LEED. According to a World Green Building Trends report, the number of sustainable projects record a two to six-fold increase every three years. In Brazil, the expansion rate for such projects is expected to increase from 6% to 36% over the next three years.

Peru: Consorcio Cementero del Sur (CCS), a subsidiary of Gloria Group, has signed a contract to buy all of Brazil’s Votorantim’s shares in Cementos Otorongo for US$4m and those of Votorantim’s subsidiary Corporación Noroeste. Cementos Otorongo is planning to build a cement plant in southern Peru for US$125m, according to the Gestión newspaper. Cementos Otorongo submitted an environmental impact study on the project in 2011 for proposed sites in La Joya, Arequipa and Mollendo, Islay. The planned plant will have a production capacity of 0.65Mt/yr.

This story was corrected on 18 August 2016 following clarification from Votorantim.

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.