Mexico: Cemex Ventures has invested in Linkx, a company that offers software to optimise goods delivery. The company’s software solution allows control of deliveries and vehicles in real time, allowing for data-based decision-making and facilitating communication and information among all involved parties: shipper, carrier, and receiver.

“This investment is a clear example of our offer. Linkx came to us at a very early stage, and together, we worked on continuous improvements by reinforcing their minimum viable product and offering continuous feedback on our knowledge of industry and technology. After numerous optimisations, we have piloted this solution with several Cemex clients to achieve a very robust solution for the supply chain management challenge," said Gonzalo Galindo, chief executive officer (CEO) of Cemex Ventures.

Cemex Ventures is the corporate venture capital wing of Cemex that was launched in 2017. It invests in startups with potential in the construction industry and works with entrepreneurs, universities and other stakeholders.

Pakistan: Attock Cement’s profit fell by 25% year-on-year to US$9.7m in the nine months of the end of March 2019 from US$12.9m in the same period to March 2018. Its revenue rose by 36% to US$114m from US$83.7m.

Brazil: Data from the National Union of Cement Industry (SNIC) shows that cement sales rose slightly to 12.7Mt in the first quarter of 2019 compared to 12.6Mt in the same period in 2018. Regional sales fell slightly to 6Mt in the southeast of the country including the major markets of Minas Gerais, São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. However, most of the other regions reported growth, particularly the centre-west. SNIC president Paulo Camillo Penna said that March 2019’s performance was better than expected and that it was forecasting growth of 3% in 2019.

Brazil: The National Union of Cement Industry (SNIC) and the Brazilian Portland Cement Association (ABCP) have launched a Cement Technology Roadmap to 2050. SNIC president Paulo Camillo Penna said that the document would help the local industry cut its carbon footprint in the medium and long term. The roadmap was developed with the International Energy Agency (IEA), the Cement Sustainability Initiative (CSI) of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), the International Finance Corporation (IFC) of the World Bank and a group of academics led by José Goldemberg.

The roadmap intends to reduce specific CO2 emissions by over 30% to 375kg CO2/t of cement in 2050. Key actions to 2030 include strengthening national and international cooperation, promoting new cement standards, raising the clinker substitution rate, promoting the use of alternative fuels in compliance with the National Policy on Solid Waste (PNRS), sharing best practive in energy efficiency and promoting resaerch and development in new greenohuse has mitigation technologies.

US: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has awarded Energy Star certification to Buzzi Unicem USA’s plants at Chattanooga in Tennessee, Festus in Missouri, Maryneal in Texas and San Antonio in Texas. This certification is awarded to a facility for superior energy performance in comparison to similar plants. This marks the 10th consecutive year that the Chattanooga, Festus and Maryneal plants have received certification and the fifth consecutive year for the San Antonio plant.

Philippines: Ramon Lopez, the secretary of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), says that a suggested retail price (SRP) for cement is not a priority following the introduction of tariffs in imports. He added that prices had barely changed since the safeguard duty started in February 2019, according to the Manila Times newspaper. The Tariff Commission is currently considering whether to add additional tariffs to cement imports. A public hearing is set on for early May 2019 where it may extend the import duties.

UAE: The shareholders of RAK Cement have approved the conditional of the Newtec cement plant and Al-Banna quarry in Fujairah. The purchase was originally announced in late February 2019. It planned to buy the assets for around US$123m.

More movement in Italy this week with Buzzi Unicem’s purchase of three cement plants from HeidelbergCement. Buzzi acquired the Testi integrated cement plant at Greve and the Borgo San Dalmazzo and Arquata Scrivia grinding plants in Piedmont. No value for the transaction was disclosed but HeidelbergCement trumpeted that it was ‘well on our way’ to reach its target of Euro1.5bn of disposals by the end of 2020. This follows last week’s purchase of Cemitaly's Spoleto cement plant in Perugia by Colacem. Cemitaly, in case readers don’t know, is another of HeidelbergCement’s Italian subsidiaries.

Upon completion of these deals, Buzzi Unicem will own 10 integrated plants and five grinding plants in Italy. It continues the company’s consolidation drive in Italy from mid-2017 when it bought Cementizillo and two of its integrated plants for the knock down price of up to Euro125m.

The two other leading cement producers are now Germany’s HeidelbergCement with its local subsidiaries (led by Italcementi) and Colacem. HeidelbergCement has 10 integrated plants and 10 grinding plant. Colacem has seven integrated plants and one grinding plant. All three companies have integrated production capacities of around 9 – 14Mt/yr. Since 2012 the market has shifted from six major producers to three. Sacci, Cementir and Cemenzillo have left the field following acquisitions by their competitors. Italcementi was taken over by HeidelbergCement in 2016.

Graph 1: Cement production in Italy, 2006 – 2017. Source: Italian Cement Association (AITEC).

Data from the Italian Cement Association (AITEC) shows that the impetus for this consolidation trend was the reduction in Italian cement production to 19.3Mt in 2017 from a high of 47.9Mt in 2006. Despite this though the country still has a total production capacity of 37.7Mt/yr, according to Global Cement Directory 2019 data, giving it an utilisation rate of just over 50%. Production picked up again in the north and central regions of Italy in 2017 but this was insufficient to counter declines in the south and Italy’s islands. Exports have held steady in this time at around 2 – 3Mt/yr but this represents a doubling share of production from 5% in 2006 to 10% in 2017. Production has been steadily dwindling year-on-year since 2006 but domestic consumption rallied a little to 18.7Mt in 2017.

The Italian government instituted its ‘Industry 4.0’ policy in early 2017 to boost competitiveness. This included modest growth forecasts of 1%. International Monetary Fund (IMF) data shows that the country managed gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 0.9% in 2018. Yet, Buzzi Unicem reported like-for-like net sales contraction of 0.9% in 2018. HeidelbergCement was more circumspect in its reporting on Italy for 2018 but it did describe a ‘moderate’ increase in sales volumes of cement excluding its acquisitions.

With the IMF diagnosing the Italian economy as ‘weak’ and cutting its growth forecast to 0.1% in 2019 the prospects aren’t looking encouraging for the cement sector. AITEC data placed cement consumption at 309t/capita in 2017. This is on the low side for Western European standards suggesting that, although more consolidation could be coming, the market may also be down too. Its not great news for cement producers but the Italian market is edging ever closer to recovery.

Germany: Ali Emir Adıgüzel has resigned as the chief executive officer (CEO) of HeidelbergCement trading subsidiary HC Trading. He will be succeeded by Hakan Gurdal, a member of HeidelbergCement’s management board.

In a statement on LinkedIn Adıgüzelthanked HeidelbergCement’s chairman Bernd Scheifele for his support over the last 15 years. He added that it was, normal to have differences of opinion regarding the performance evaluation, strategy and future steps in companies.

Born in Turkey, the 58-year old Adıgüzel graduated from Harvard Business School in the US and the Boğaziçi University Business Administration Department in Turkey. He started his career working in Saudi Arabia and has been the general manager of HC Trading since 1996. He became Trade Chairman for the Mediterranean, Middle East and International regions, which include Turkey in 2004 and was appointed CEO in 2016.

Russia: Eurocement has appointed Andrey Solovyov as the director general of its 2.6Mt/yr Peterburgtsement plant. Soloviev, a graduate of the Moscow Mining Institute, holds experience working for other cement companies. He previously ran Eurocement’s Sengileevskiy cement plant in Ulyanovsk. He has been suceeded at this site by Ildus Sagitov, a graduate of the Belgorod State Technological University.