Mexico: President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has accused the US government of funding environmentalists' challenges to the government's planned Tren Maya tourist railway project. AP News has reported that López Obrador has declared the project a matter of national security.

Cemex is currently embroiled in a dispute with Vulcan Materials subsidiary Sac-Tun over use of the latter's Punta Venado terminal in Quintana Roo. The terminal sits along the planned route of the Tren Maya line. The Mexican State Prosecutor's Office supported Cemex's re-entry into the terminal on 14 March 2023. The government previously rejected Sac-Tun's application to renew its quarrying licence for its quarry at the site of the terminal.

For more on this story, read our Global Cement Weekly analysis.

Brazil: Secil Supremo Cimentos has appointed FLSmidth to carry out a pyro process upgrade at its Adrianópolis cement plant in Paraná. The Denmark-based supplier says that it plans to carry out modifications on the plant's preheater, cooler and related auxiliary equipment. It says the new equipment will expand the plant's capacity to 3900t/day, corresponding to an annual production capacity of 1.42Mt/yr. It will also enable it to increase its alternative fuel (AF) substitution rate to 40%. Secil Supremo Cimentos' AF mix consists of shredded tyres, wood and other refuse-derived fuels.

FLSmidth's head of capital sales, Jens Jonas Skov Larsen, said “We are grateful for our continued partnership with Supremo, which has consistently invested in the latest technology. As the plant was already operating an ILC five-stage preheater from FLSmidth, it was well positioned to use AF.”

Poland: Lafarge Polska has signed a 10-year power supply agreement with Germany-based energy provider RWE Supply & Trading. Under the contract, Lafarge Polska will receive renewable energy from Windfarm Polska III on the coast at Sztum, Pomeranian Voivodeship. It is owned by German state-owned Stadtwerke München (SWM).

Renewables Now News has reported that Lafarge Polska is currently building a 41MW solar power plant at the site of its former Wierzbica cement plant in Masovian Voivodeship. This will cover a further 10% of its energy consumption.

Vietnam: Thang Thang Cement has despatched a shipment of 55,000t of cement produced at its Ha Nam cement plant to a customer in Central America. Vietnam Investment Review News has reported that Lotus Cement and Commodities Trading Corporation shipped the order from Ho Chi Minh City.

Vietnamese cement producers are reportedly seeking new trade partners due to 'lingering headwinds' in the domestic and global markets.

EU: Cembureau, the European cement sector association, has lobbied the EU in support of a draft act for the setting of CO₂ storage capacity quotas for member states. It called for the simplification and acceleration of permitting procedures for storage sites. It also encouraged policymakers to strengthen the focus on CO₂ transport networks, ensuring fair access conditions for cement plants.

Cembureau said "Whilst a mix of technologies are needed to decarbonise cement production, carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) is particularly critical, as our sector faces unavoidable process emissions. A large number of CCUS pilot and demonstration projects have been launched by cement companies across Europe, with the first of them becoming operational as early as 2024. The pipeline of investments is particularly strong – for instance, the latest ETS Innovation Fund call awarded over Euro500m three cement CCUS projects."

Germany: Solid UNIT Germany, the German construction sector association, has launched its climate advisory board. The board will advise on and jointly instigate initiatives together with the Solid UNIT Germany management board. Its membership comprises representatives from the German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB), the Institute for Sustainable Construction in Germany (ARGE) and the Federal Chamber of Architects, along with members of parliament.

Solid UNIT Germany managing director Thomas Zawalski said "To cope with the Herculean task ahead of us, it is important to bundle experience. Faster CO₂ reduction in the building sector is only possible through joint action by all stakeholders."

A dispute between Cemex and Vulcan Materials over the use of a terminal in Quintana Roo state heated up this week as the two companies publicly argued over the situation. US-based Vulcan Materials went to the press to say that the Mexican police had forced entry into the facility south of Cancun, run by its subsidiary Calica, with orders to allow a Cemex ship to discharge cement. Vulcan denied that the authorities had any legal basis for the action and said that it was an illegal occupation. Cemex then responded with a press release explaining that the two companies had held a previous contractual relationship for joint-usage of the terminal until the agreement broke down in late 2022. It says it was granted an injunction by a local court to continue using the terminal while legal proceedings carry on.

The disagreement over the use of the Punta Venado terminal dates back to at least 2018 when Vulcan initiated a North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) arbitration claim over alleged planning and environmental issues in relation to a nearby quarry. Dialogue continued, but Calica’s operations in the area were shut down by the government in May 2022. Subsequently, Vulcan’s total volumes of shipped aggregates fell by 6% year-on-year to 54Mt in the fourth quarter of 2022, partly due to the closure.

Unfortunately, the argument has become increasingly politicised with Mexican president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador criticising Vulcan for its environmental record and US senators using the Vulcan case as an alleged example of Mexico treating US companies unfairly. Some media commentators have also noted that the Mexican government is promoting a number of large-scale infrastructure schemes in the region, including the Tren Maya project, a new 1500km train line around the Yucatan peninsula, which would link tourist towns such as Cancún with historical sites like Palenque.

Graph 1: Grey cement production in Mexico, 2018 - 2022. Source: National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI).

Data from the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI) shows that rolling annual cement production in Mexico peaked at around 43Mt in late 2018 before falling to 39Mt in mid-2020. It later recovered to a peak of just under 46Mt in mid-2021. It has since dropped a little to mid-2022 and then started to trend upwards again. The nominal cement production capacity in Mexico is 60Mt/yr according to the Global Cement Directory 2023. Yet, the actual production capacity has been reported in local press as being 42Mt/yr, lower than the annual cement production of 43.9Mt in 2022. In February 2023 it was reported that the Mexican government was taking steps to 'implement import facilities' to support more cement being imported. This was due to shortages in certain states particular in the south-west of the country.

Cemex’s net sales in Mexico grew by 11% to US$3.84bn in 2022 and this was attributed partly to tourism-related construction in ‘the peninsulas.’ Holcim noted ‘market softness’ for cement in the country but reported growth for concrete due to infrastructure projects such as the Tren Maya. Cemento Moctezuma’s net sales rose by 2.6% to US$878m. Despite rising sales, both Cemex and Cemento Moctezuma reported falling earnings in 2022.

The dispute between Cemex and Vulcan Materials overlaps with wider trends on how and where the Mexican cement market is developing following a lull in the late 2010s. Production is growing in certain parts of the country, particularly in the Yucatan peninsula due to various infrastructure projects and tourism-related demand. However, the overall economic environment appears to have decreased earnings for some producers. However Cemex said that this was starting to correct itself in late 2022, as prices caught up with inflation. Portraying the Cemex - Vulcan situation in nationalistic terms is unhelpful, especially since Cemex made more money in the US than Mexico in 2022! However, this may be yet another example of more isolationist economic policies along the same lines as the US Inflation Reduction Act.

Saudi Arabia: Northern Region Cement has appointed Sulaiman Salim Al Harbi as its chair. Faisal Hamad Al Sugair was also appointed as vice-chair and Saud Saad Al Arifi as managing director of the board of directors.

Australia: AdBri has appointed Dianne Mong as its acting chief financial officer (CFO). She succeeds Peter Barker in the post. Barker will continue to work with AdBri in an advisory role. Recruitment for a permanent CFO continues.

Mong has worked for the building materials company since early 2022 and has managed all areas of the group’s finance functions in this time. She holds over 20 years’ experience across the professional services, property and telecommunications sectors, with expertise in financial control, taxation and treasury. Prior to working for AdBri, Mong held senior finance positions with TPG Telecom, Australand Property Group (now Frasers Property Australia) and KPMG Australia.

Greece: Titan Cement Group’s sales rose by 33% year-on-year to Euro2.28bn in 2022, while its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose by 20% to Euro331m. The producer sold 17.2Mt of cement, up by 2% year-on-year from 16.8Mt. Its USA sales rose by 34% to Euro1.31bn, its Southeastern Europe sales rose by 33% to Euro386m, its Greece and Western Europe sales rose by 22% to Euro326m, its Eastern Mediterranean sales rose by 48% to Euro256m and its Brazil-based joint venture Apodi’s sales rose by 38% to Euro115.9m. During the year, the group commenced exports of Type IL Portland limestone cement (PLC) from its Samsun, Türkiye, cement terminal to the US.

Group chair Marcel Cobuz said “The great performance results highlight the group's ability to adapt to market conditions and to activate effective growth strategies, driving positive financial performance mainly in US and Europe, where we serve the majority of our customers and have close to 90% of our sales. They also underscore the group’s resilience, adaptability and commitment of all our great teams to transform the group commercially and technologically while digitising our customer journey and decarbonising aggressively, delivering long-term value to all our stakeholders.”