UK: Breedon Group’s revenue remained stable in 2020 at Euro1.08bn. Its underlying earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) fell by 34% year-on-year to Euro89.3m in 2020 from Euro136m in 2019. Cement sales volumes stayed stable at 2Mt but ready-mixed concrete sales volumes dropped by 13% to 2.6Mm³ from 3Mm³. The group reported a strong second half of 2020 following coronavirus-related disruption.

“Although we remain mindful of the ongoing impact of Covis-19, with the worst of the pandemic now hopefully behind us and some welcome clarity on Brexit, I believe the prospects for Breedon and for our industry are increasingly positive,” said Pat Ward, Breedon Group’s chief executive.

Europe: Members of the European Parliament (MEP) have adopted a resolution supporting a European Union (EU) carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM). If enacted by the EU then a carbon tax could be levied on certain goods imported from outside the EU that don’t meet local decarbonisation standards. MEPs stressed that it should be World Trade Organisation compatible and not be misused as a tool to enhance protectionism.

The new mechanism is intended to be part of a broader EU industrial strategy and cover all imports of products and commodities covered by the EU emissions trading scheme (ETS). MEPs add that already by 2023, and following an impact assessment, it should cover the power sector and energy-intensive industrial sectors like cement, steel, aluminium, oil refinery, paper, glass, chemicals and fertilisers, which continue to receive substantial free allocations, and still represent 94% of EU industrial emissions.

“The CBAM is a great opportunity to reconcile climate, industry, employment, resilience, sovereignty and relocation issues. We must stop being naïve and impose the same carbon price on products, whether they are produced in or outside the EU, to ensure the most polluting sectors also take part in fighting climate change and innovate towards zero carbon. This is our best chance of remaining below the 1.5°C warming limit, whilst also pushing our trading partners to be equally ambitious in order to enter the EU market,” said EU Parliament rapporteur Yannick Jadot.

The European Commission is expected to present a legislative proposal on a CBAM in the second quarter of 2021 as part of the European Green Deal as well as a proposal on how to include the revenue generated to finance part of the EU budget.

Colombia: Cementos Argos will hold the virtual launch of Argos Green Solutions on 17 March 2021. The company will use the group to set out its vision of innovation to build a sustainable future. President Juan Esteban Calle and sustainability vice president María Isabel Echeverri will host the event.

China: China Resources Cement’s turnover rose by 3% year-on-year to US$5.16bn in 2020 from US$5.02bn in 2019. Its profit attributable to shareholders was US$1.15bn, up by 4% year-on-year. Sales volumes of cement grew by 6% to 87.3Mt from 82.5Mt. Volumes increased in Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan and Guizhou but decreased in Fujian, Hainan and Shanxi.

In February 2020 the cement producer completed the construction of one 1.4Mt/yr clinker production line and two cement grinding lines with a combined cement production capacity of 2Mt/yr in Anshun City, Guizhou. Also in 2020 the group commissioned one new concrete batching plant and shut down two others.

During the reporting year the Group co-processed 183,100t of municipal solid waste, 52,800t of urban sludge with an 80% moisture content and 6100t of hazardous industrial waste. It operates seven co-processing projects with four more either under trial operation or under construction. It also said that it had been following policies for carbon emissions with trial activities conducted in preparation for a future unification of national carbon market. Eight company plants in Guangdong and five in Fujian were reported as having settled their carbon credit quota for 2019.

Other operations of note include the start of Phase 1 of the group’s intelligent manufacturing pilot project at a unit in Tianyang in conjunction with Siemens. The group has also commenced trial operation of its in-house developed intelligent manufacturing system at a cement plant in Pingnan, Guangxi. The project interacts with system quality management systems and advanced kiln controls. The next step will be to use the quality management system at cement plants in Shangsi and Guigang, Guangxi. A so-called ‘lighthouse plant’ is also planned to work with environment, health and safety, operation, production, equipment, quality, mines and logistics at a cement plant in Fengkai County, Guangdong. The group’s platform for sharing auxiliary materials and spare parts was launched in Fujian in April 2020 and has since been rolled out to sites in Guangdong, Guangxi and Hainan. Finally, the company’s ‘Smart Card’ logistics system has put into operation at cement plants in Fengkai, Huizhou, Luoding and Dongguan, Guangdong and has been operating at 25 cement production plants by the end of 2020.

India: Larsen & Toubro has secured and engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for a new integrated cement plant at Pali, Rajasthan. It says that a major national cement producer awarded the contract.

In December 2020, Global Cement reported that Aditya Birla subsidiary UltraTech Cement planned to proceed with the construction of a cement plant at Pali.

Brazil: Votorantim Cimentos has announced plans to upgrade cement production at its 0.2Mt/yr integrated Corumbá cement plant in Mato Grosso do Sul. The Correio de Corumbá newspaper has reported the value of the planned work as US$2.85m. The investment is intended to improve the plant’s grinding line, modernise an electrical substation system, make changes to its mining operations and generally focus on optimising energy consumption. It also plans to train employees and work on community outreach activities.

Philippines: The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has issued an order amending its previous order on cement safeguards. The Manila Bulletin newspaper has reported that the amendment extends safeguard measures to 13 new countries which now exceed the necessary 3% import volume share. These are Chile, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Israel, Indonesia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovenia, Slovakia and South Korea. Imported cement from these countries will now face a safeguard duty of US$0.2/bag. An official source quoted by the newspaper called the surge in importation from these countries "trade diversion" tactics by importers since these countries were previously exempt from the safeguard duty.

US: R-Tec Creations has launched New World Concrete, a single-stone Portland pozzolan concrete. R-Tec creations classifies the product as super ultra high performance concrete (SUHPC) for its compressive strength. It developed the concrete for use in construction in hurricane and earthquake-affected areas.

Colombia: BBVA has granted a US$45.1m loan to Grupo Argos subsidiary Cementos Argos. The loan includes a pricing adjustment mechanism which links its interest rate to the producer’s environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) performance rating. The company said that the choice of financing arrangement aims to promote a greater commitment to sustainability management and compliance with socially and environmentally responsible practices that ensure the construction of a greener future. The transaction is the first of its kind in Colombia and constitutes Grupo Argos’ debut in sustainable financing.

Chief executive officer Juan Esteban Calle said, “This is a definite advance in line with our sustainability strategy that fills us with joy, not only because it contributes to our debt profile and reassures our commitment to sustainability as a strategic pillar and source of competitive advantage, but it is also a benchmark of trust for our investors and other stakeholders”

Austria: Weitersdorfer Group has consolidated its lime activities under lime subsidiary Intercal. The group says that the closer cooperation of locations under the regionally-rooted InterCal enables the most effective roll-out of new technology such as drones for stockpile management and supports sustainable production practices such as the use of blown wood dust in lime kilns. Austria-based W&P Kalk became InterCal Austria, Slovenia-based IGM became InterCal Slovenija and Croatia-based InterCal became InterCal Croatia.

Sales and marketing managing director Harald Braunecker said, InterCal's "The new umbrella brand enables future-orientated cooperation between the individual locations, thus strengthening our market position from Austria to the Black Sea. The name InterCal combines the international market claim of the umbrella brand with calcium carbonate, the most important basic raw material for lime production.” He added, "Thanks to cross-border synergy effects among the individual InterCal companies, it is also possible for us to place an even stronger focus on the topic of sustainable production."