Global Cement Newsletter

Issue: GCW417 / 07 August 2019

Headlines


With a good number of the financial results published by the non-Chinese multinational cement producers for the first half of 2019, it is now time for a roundup. Graphs 1 and 2 below lay some of the basics with the general sales revenue and cement production volume trends.

Graph 1: Sales revenues from large multinational cement producers in the first half of 2019 and 2018. Source: Company reports.

Graph 1: Sales revenues from large multinational cement producers in the first half of 2019 and 2018. Source: Company reports.

Graph 2: Cement sales volumes from large multinational cement producers in first half of 2019 and 2018. Source: Company reports. 

Graph 2: Cement sales volumes from large multinational cement producers in first half of 2019 and 2018. Source: Company reports.

This is only part of the picture as the larger companies had various complications. For example, LafargeHolcim’s apparent falling revenue and sales volumes is mainly due to its massive divestments in South-East Asia. On a like-for-like basis its sales and sales volumes of cement rose. Its recurring earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) better illustrated this with a rise of 7.2% year-on-year in real-terms to Euro2.41bn in the first half of 2019 from Euro2.25bn from 2018. The company didn’t have it all its own way though with falling cement sales volumes in Asia despite the divestment and poor growth in its Middle East Africa region.

By contrast HeidelbergCement reported growing sales but its earnings and profits were down. Its profit fell by 33% to Euro291m from Euro435m. This was blamed on the group’s sale of its Ukraine subsidiary in April 2019. The operations were sold to Overin Limited, part of Ukrainian investment company Concorde Capital Group, for Euro13m. HeidelbergCement said that the divestment resulted in a loss of Euro143m. Aside from this, as Bernd Scheifele, the chairman of the managing board of HeidelbergCement, explained, positives in markets in Asia, Western and Southern Europe compensated for weaker business in North America and the Africa-Eastern Mediterranean Basin Group area.

Cemex has a tougher time of it than its larger rivals due its greater reliance on American markets. Slow starts to infrastructure projects were blamed in Mexico, poor weather hit earnings in the US and problems occurred further south too. Luckily Europe was strong for the company with lots of good news areas. It wasn’t enough though as Cemex’s sales fell by 4% to US$6.72bn from US$7bn and its operating EBITDA dropped by 11% to US$1.21bn from US$1.36bn.

As for the other companies covered in the graphs, Buzzi Unicem and Titan Group prospered due to the US market. The former described its US activity as ‘lively.’ However, it admitted that its sales growth there was mainly caused by falling imports in the face of weak domestic demand and ‘considerable production and logistical difficulties’ in June 2019 caused by flooding of the Mississippi river. Titan, meanwhile, caught a well-deserved break after recent years with growth also in Greece and Southeastern Europe. Vicat managed to stave off a decline in sales due to poor markets in Turkey, Switzerland, Indian and West Africa through its acquisition of Brazil’s Ciplan in late 2018. Yet, its earnings and cement sales volumes fell anyway.

Dangote Cement once again suffered at home in Nigeria, while its Pan Africa business grew. Trouble at home was pinned on lower volumes, price discounting, higher input and distribution costs and higher fuel and power costs in the first half of 2019. Of more concern, earnings fell in Pan Africa too in the first half due to market conditions in South Africa and Zambia. As ever though Dangote Cement’s diversity in Sub-Saharan Africa should see it through. Finally, Semen Indonesia continued to ride high as its sales increased by 23% to US$1.17bn due to its absorption of LafargeHolcim’s assets. Unsurprisingly, its sales volumes grew at a similar rate, to just below 13Mt in the first five months of 2019. Yet trouble may be store ahead as its local sales fell by 7% in this period.

Other major producers omitted here include Ireland’s CRH and India’s UltraTech Cement. Both are set to release their results later in August 2019 and will make for essential reading as the market conditions so far in 2019 become clearer. The latter in particular will be worth watching if a report by Indian credit agency CARE Ratings out this week is correct. It has forecast production capacity growth of 120Mt by 2030 in India. UltraTech Cement is perfectly poised to benefit from this.


Mexico: Cemex has made a series of changes its senior level organisation with changes to the heads of its operations in the US and its South, Central America and the Caribbean region. These personnel changes will come into effect from 1 September 2019.

Jaime Muguiro Dominguez, the current president of Cemex South, Central America and the Caribbean, and managing director and chief executive officer (CEO) of Cemex Latam Holdings (CLH), has been appointed president of Cemex USA. He succeeds Ignacio Madridejos who had held the role since late 2015. Madridejos will leave Cemex to become the CEO of Ferrovial, a Spanish infrastructure development company.

Jesus V Gonzalez Herrera, current Cemex Executive Vice President of Sustainability and Operations Development, has been appointed president of Cemex South, Central America and the Caribbean. In addition, on 6 August 2019, Gonzalez was appointed CEO of CLH by the board of directors of CLH.

Juan Romero Torres, currently the Executive Vice President of Global Commercial Development, has been appointed Executive Vice President of Sustainability, Commercial and Operations Development. This new role combines Romero’s current responsibilities with those of the Executive Vice Presidency of Sustainability and Operations Development, which include the Health & Safety, Operations and Technology, Energy, Procurement, Sustainability and Research & Development areas.


US: The Portland Cement Association (PCA) has made appointments to its executive teams in Government Affairs, Communications and Finance.

Sean O’Neill has been appointed as the Senior Vice President of Government Affairs. He joins the PCA from the Associated General Conwtractors of America as Vice President of Congressional Relations/Infrastructure Advancement. Previously he served as Director of Government Affairs at the International Association of Fire Fighters, Special Assistant to Secretary Elaine Chao and Chief of Staff for Congressman John Sweeney.

Nick Ferrari has been appointed Senior Vice President of Communications and Media Relations. He was previously Director of Publishing and Content Development at the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. He was also the chief executive officer (CEO) of Erdos and Morgan, a marketing and media research company and Executive Vice President at American Business Media. He has also held senior positions at Crain Communications.

Debra Adlis has been appointed as the chief financial officer (CFO). She will serve as treasurer and CFO for PCA, while also serving as Executive Vice President of Finance for the National Ready Mix Concrete Association. Adlis has led non-profit finance teams at the National Foundation for Credit Counseling, the Immune Deficiency Foundation and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. Previous to those roles Adlis worked with the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization and the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts.


Austria: Alpacem has appointed Birgit Lautner as its head of human resources and Jerneja Potocnik as the head of its financial control. Lautner, aged 47 years, worked in various international finance and industrial companies in human resource roles before joining Alpacem. Potocnik, aged 41 years, will also act as finance director for Salonit Anhovo, the group’s Slovenian subsidiary. She has held various positions in the Wietersdorfer Group since 2016.


UK: Chris Leese has decided to leave Cemex UK after 30 years with the company. His varied career at Cemex has seen him taking responsibility for a broad range of activities, notably as Vice President of Readymix VP and more latterly as Vice President of Aggregates.

Leese has been a long-standing champion of health and safety improvements, taking a lead role at Cemex and the broader industry. He was the chair of the MPA Health and Safety committee for over nine years.


UK: Aggregate Industries has appointed Max Colligan as the managing director of its Ready Mix Concrete business and as a member of its executive committee. He holds over 30 years of experience in the construction industry. He holds a degree in civil engineering and has post-graduate qualifications in quarrying.


Trinidad & Tobago: The Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) has ruled that cement sold by Rock Hard Cement can be classified as ‘Other hydraulic cement.’ As such it is subject to a tariff of up to 5% under Common External Tariff (CET). Rock Hard Cement’s competitor Trinidad Cement and its subsidiaries had been arguing that the company’s products be classified as ‘Building cement (grey)’ and be charged a Caribbean Community (CARICOM) tax of 15% when imported into the region, according to the Barbados Today newspaper. The decision by the court is the latest in a series of legal cases between Rock Hard Cement and Trinidad Cement

However, the CCJ also said that recent developments in the cement industry made it appropriate for a study to be performed by the CARICOM Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED) to assess whether the tariff rate for imported ‘Other hydraulic cement’ ought to be increased to give additional protection to regional cement manufacturers so that these manufacturers might obtain an appropriate level of protection. It also recommended greater collaboration between regional cement producers in undertaking global trade commitments.


India: JK Lakshmi Cement’s revenue rose by 9% year-on-year to US$160m in its first quarter to 30 June 2019 from US$147m in the same period in 2018. Notably, its expenses fell by 2% to US$146m due to decreasing logistics costs. Its net profit grew significantly to US$7.58m from US$0.44m. The cement producer also said that it had commissioned a 20MW captive power plant at its Durg cement plant in Chhattisgarh.


India: CARE Ratings has identified Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh as the key states expected to lead cement production capacity additions over the next decade to 2030. In a sector report the credits agency forecast growth of 120Mt in this period. It noted that Rajasthan, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana were among the top states in installed capacity at present. It said that the southern region led with highest installed capacity of 33% followed by the North, East, West and Central regions. Rajasthan, Karnataka, Telangana, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra are among the states with highest limestone resources.

India is the world’s second largest second producer but its per capita consumption is low, at 210kg. This is well below the global average of around 575kg/capita.


Saudi Arabia: Yanbu Cement’s sales revenue grew by 14% year-on-year to US$128m in the first half of 2019 from US$110m in the same period in 2018. Its net profit after Zakat and tax more than doubled to US$30.1m from US$12m. The cement producer attributed this to higher prices and growing clinker exports.


Algeria: Groupe des Ciments d’Algérie’s (GICA) Aïn el Kebira cement plant in Setif has been certified by the American Petroleum Institute (API) to produce oil well cement products. It has been award two certificates following a one-year audit, according to the El Moudjahid newspaper. Djamila Tamazirt, Minister of Industry and Mining, who was on a tour of the unit, said that the development would help the country to stop importing oil well cements. The country imports an estimated 0.2Mt/yr of oil well cement at a cost of nearly US$30m.


Libya: The Libyan Cement Company (LCC) says taxes, poor weather and local fighting have hampered its progress over the last year. The introduction of a 183% Foreign Exchange Tax in the last quarter of 2018 has tripled the price of imported spare parts, supplies and capital goods. This has delayed repairs to the cement producer’s plants. However the company believes that the tax may be lowered in the near future. A long and wet winter has also been blamed for reducing the demand for cement and reducing the company’s cash flow.

Fighting in Tripoli has affected the LCC’s operations in the east of the country with multi-month long interruptions to the supply of raw materials. It said that key roads have recently been re-opened following negotiations relieving the situation and that it hopes they will stay open.

The company said that it is still working towards a Euro200m upgrade project to its plant in Benghazi. The plan is to increase the unit’s production capacity to 3Mt/yr from 2Mt/yr.


Russia: Italy’s Bedeschi has set up a new subsidiary in Moscow. The company is working on a project for OTEKO at its dry bulk terminal at the port of Taman on the Black Sea. It consists of the supply of a fully automated coal export terminal with a total aggregated capacity of more than 50,000t/hr on six loading lines. The supply includes bucket wheel stacker-reclaimers, several kilometres of conveyors and shiploaders. The system allows the blending of different types of coal. The new company in Russia joins existing subsidiaries in the US, Morocco, India and the UAE.


Malaysia: Deputy Chief Minister and State Trade and Industries Minister Datuk Seri Wilfred Madius Tangau says that the Sabah Economic Development Corporation (SEDCO) and Cement Industries (Sabah) (CIS) are in talks about building an integrated cement plant in Sabah state in Borneo. The minister was replying to questions in the state assembly about the higher cost of cement in the region compared to West Malaysia, according to the Daily Express newspaper. There are no integrated plants in the state, although CIS operates a grinding plant that uses imported clinker.


Philippines: Eagle Cement’s sales rose by 28% year-on-year to US$202m in the first half of 2019 from US$157m in the same period in 2018. Its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) grew by 21% to US$80.6m.

The company said it was on track to complete a 1.5Mt/yr grinding upgrade to its Bulacan plant in 2020. It added that it was secured approval for a permit to build a port terminal to support its new Line 4 production line at its Cebu plant. Once completed it expects to sell cement in the Visayas region by the end of 2020.


UAE: Arkan Cement’s profit has grown in the first half of 2019 due to the sale of the closed Emirates Cement plan in February 2019. The subsidiary of Arkan Building Materials also said that it had benefitted from cost controls and a successful insurance claim. Its profit more than doubled to US$12.4min the first half of 2019 from US$4.67m in the same period in 2018. However, its sales revenue fell by 9.6% to US$79 from US$85.2m. It blamed this on local ‘price pressure’ due to a declining export market.


UAE: Ras Al Khaimah (RAK) Cement’s sales fell by 20% year-on-year to US$25.4m in the first half of 2019 from US$31.7m in the same period in 2018. Its profit dropped by 79% to US$0.39m from US$1.88m. Its cost of sales decreased to US$234m from US$29.1m.


Panama: The government is set to look at new regulations for hexavalent chromium (chromium VI) in cement imports. Jorge Azcárraga, the general manager of Cemento Interoceánico said that the authorities are expected to set up a technical forum to discuss the issue, according to the Panamá América newspaper. The issue is being treated separately from newly introduced requirements and standards of cement because it is considered a health issue. It was previously reported that the government was set to introduce testing imports for chromium VI in March 2019.


Mexico: Austria’s Unitherm Cemcon has been awarded the supply of an MAS DT burner to an unnamed cement plant in Mexico. The burner is designed for coal, natural gas and liquid secondary fuel operation. To optimise the maintenance work, the burner is equipped with a divisible jacket tube. A satellite burner, with the supplier’s adjustment system, will be mounted on top of the main burner to improve solid secondary fuel utilisation.


Dominican Republic: Cementos Argos has launched new branding under the tagline of 'imagine all we can build together.' Gary De la Rosa, chief executive officer (CEO) of the company, said that it would enhance the value the company offered to its customers, according to the Hoy newspaper. The Colombian company operates two ready-mix concrete plants and a cement grinding plant in the country.


Bolivia: Empresa Publica Productiva Cementos de Bolivia’s (ECEBOL) new integrated cement plant at Caracollo in Oruro has been inaugurated. President Evo Morales attended the event for the 1.3Mt/yr plant, according to the Correo del Sur newspaper. The project had an investment of US$306m and it was built by a consortium of Sacyr, Imasa and Polysius.


Italy: Buzzi Unicem sales revenue grew by 13.6% year-on-year to Euro1.52bn in the first half of 2019 from Euro$1.34bn in the same period in 2019. Its net profit rose by 27% to Euro135m from Euro123m. Its cement sales volumes increased by 7.1% to 13.9Mt from 12.9Mt but ready-mixed concrete sales fell slightly to 5.8Mm3.

The building materials producer said that ‘lively’ activity levels in the US had driven its sales so far in 2019. This was mainly caused by falling imports in the face of weak domestic demand and ‘considerable production and logistical difficulties’ in June 2019 caused by flooding of the Mississippi river. A slight recovery in Italy was also noted with growing cement sales volumes and strengthening prices. Elsewhere, growth was recorded in most territories apart from Luxembourg, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.


India: Birla Corporation says it has increased its sales revenue through ‘aggressive’ pricing, up-selling customers to premium brands and focusing on the independent home building market. Its sales revenue grew by 14% year-on-year to US$267m in the quarter to 30 June 2019 from US$236m in the same period in 2018. Its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose by 49% to US$57m from US$38.3m. Its sales volumes of cement increased by 4% to 3.6Mt from 3.5Mt. The cement producer says it had a production capacity utilisation rate of 98% during the reporting period.


South Korea: SsangYong Cement Industrial’s sales revenue rose by 5.9% year-on-year to US$626m in the first half of 2019 from US$591m in the same period in 2018. Its net profit grew by 26% to US$58.1m from US$56.3m. Its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) increased by 17.1% to US$151m from US$129m.


Pakistan: Data from the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics shows that cement exports fell by 2.5% year-on-year to 1.16Mt in the second quarter of 2019 from 1.22Mt in the same period in 2018. After a strong first quarter exports remained high in April 2019 before starting to decline in May and June. Overall, exports rose by 22.8% year-on-year to 2.7Mt in the first half of 2019.


China: Anhui Conch Cement has ordered four new Polab laboratory automation systems from Germany’s ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions. The systems will be installed at some of the world’s largest integrated cement plants at Wuhu and Tongling respectively in Anhui province. No value for the order has been disclosed.


Argentina: Loma Negra says that a minor fire broke out at an auxiliary building for the second production line at the L'Amalí integrated cement plant on 1 August 2019. No casualties or injuries were reported in the incident. The subsidiary of Brazil’s InterCement said that the causes of the accident are yet to be determined but that no significant impacts are expected. The plant is currently being upgraded with a new production line that is scheduled for completion in early 2020.


France: Vicat’s sales rose by 4.6% year-on-year to Euro1.34bn in the first half of 2019 from Euro1.28bn in the same period in 2018. This was mainly due to its acquisition of Brazil’s Ciplan in late 2018. At constant scope and exchange rates its sales fell by 0.6% due to poor markets in Turkey, Switzerland, Indian and West Africa. Its earnings before interest and tax fell by 9.4% to Euro97m from Euro107m. Cement sales volumes dropped by 4.9% to 10.8Mt from 11.4Mt and concrete volumes decreased by 6.7% to 4.3Mm3 from 4.57Mm3.

“In the first half of 2019, solid performances in France, Asia and the US drove an increase in our sales and earnings before interest, taxation, deprecation and amortisation (EBITDA). These results reflect a marked improvement in the operational profitability given the on-going increase in consumed energy costs, the deteriorating macroeconomic situation in Turkey and the exceptional rainfalls in California that we experienced in the first half,” said Guy Sidos, the group’s chief executive officer (CEO).

By region, the group’s sales and earnings rose in France but fell in the rest of Europe. Sales grew in the Americas region, even without the Ciplan acquisition, but earnings fell due to a Euro10.6mn settlement payment booked in the US in the first half of 2018. The group’s sales fell in India but earnings rose due to price increases. Poor markets in Turkey and Egypt hit sales and caused a loss.


US: Summit Materials' revenue rose by 3% year-on-year to US$739m in the first half of 2019 from US$717m in the same period in 2018. Its adjusted earnings before interest, taxation, deprecation and amortisation (EBITDA) grew by 4% to US$147m from US$141m. Cement sales volumes increased by 2% to 1Mt from 0.97Mt. Tom Hill, the chief executive officer of Summit Materials, noted that flooding on the Mississippi River had presented ‘significant’ challenges for its cement business during the second quarter of 2019.

Summit Materials is active in the aggregates, asphalt and concrete sectors. It also owns Continental Cement, a cement producer that runs two integrated cement plants at Hannibal, Missouri and Davenport, Iowa.


India: Dalmia Bharat has blamed the general election for its slow cement sales volumes growth in its first quarter. Its sales volumes of cement increased slightly to 4.55Mt. Its revenue grew by 7% year-on-year to US$365m in the first fiscal quarter to 30 June 2019 from US$340m in the same period in 2018. Its earnings before interest, taxation, deprecation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose by 27% to US$95.7m from US$75.2m.

The cement producer also said that its power and fuel costs per tonne had been negatively affected by its Kalyanpur plant operating at low capacity utilisation levels, partly due to a lack of coal. However, it noted that its raw material costs had been ‘moderated’ due to falling slag prices.


Egypt: Medhat Istafanos, the head of the Cement Division at the Federation of Egyptian Industries (FEI), says that the market is only supporting 40% of local production. He blamed this on a slowdown in building activity and a lack of government-backed infrastructure projects to make up the shortfall, according to the Al-Ahram newspaper. Noha Bakr, an executive director at the cement division of the FEI, also blamed a construction ban on agricultural land.

The country’s 24 cement plants have a production capacity of 85Mt/yr but only 48Mt were sold in 2018. Cement sales have fallen since 2017 and are expected to reach 49Mt in 2019.

Producers are exploring options to increase cement exports. Walid Gamaleddin, the president of the Export Council for Building Materials and the Metallurgical Industries, has called for the government to support industry exports. The minister of trade and industry discussed a programme for cement-export subsidies with officials from the sector in late July 2019 that would include encouraging agreements to export cement to the African countries. The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) has also instructed the banking sector to support cement companies that needed to restructure their debts. The merger of smaller companies to form larger conglomerates has also been encouraged.

However, growing exports of Egyptian cement is challenged by its relative high cost compared to other countries. Istafanos said that Egyptian cement is US$12/t higher than its competitors.


Spain: The Association of Cement Manufacturers of Andalusia (AFCA) has lobbied the Regional Government of Andalusia to invest more in infrastructure projects. At a meeting the cement producers asked the local government to support the sector, according to Europa Press. The region’s consumption of cement grew by 8.5% year-on-year to 2.5Mt in 2018 but it is still at a historically low level. Exports fell by 30% to 1.6Mt in 2018 due to rising costs associated with the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme and high local electricity costs.


Mexico: Cemex Mexico has launched a new website to sell concrete. It is intended to serve builders, contractors, small business owners, architects, construction entrepreneurs and the general public for any size of project from 1m3 upwards.

The site includes an online calculator to help customers work out the amount of concrete required for a project and technical support to aid the transaction. It also supports scheduling delivery at a specific time and date, as well as having visibility and tracking of the order in real time. The company says it is the first conle concrete sales channel in the country with ‘express’ service and full coverage.


US: Mississippi Lime has completed its acquisition of Southern Lime, the lime business of Covia based in Calera, Alabama. The purchase increases Mississippi Lime’s production facilities to nine locations, supported by a network of distribution sites throughout the country. The Southern Lime business and its Calera plant will be fully integrated into Mississippi Lime. No value for the transaction was disclosed.


Greece: Titan Group’s turnover rose by 10% to Euro785m in the first half of 2019 from Euro713m in the same period in 2018. The building materials producer attributed this to improving markets in Greece and Southeastern Europe, as well as continued ‘strong’ performance in the US.

Its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) remained stable at Euro122m but its net profit fell by 46% to Euro13.3m from Euro24.8m. In its Eastern Mediterranean region the group described market conditions as ‘challenging’ with falling demand in Egypt and Turkey. In Brazil it said that cement sales volumes were stable but that revenue had risen due to an improving market.


India: Data from the Ministry of Commerce & Industry shows that cement production rose by 6.3% year-on-year to 178Mt in the first half of 2019 from 167Mt in the same period in 2018. On a month-on-month basis production fell by 1.5% to 28.3Mt in June 2019 from 28.8Mt in June 2018. June 2019 was the first month since October 2017 that cement production had fallen in this way.


Egypt: Arabian Cement has signed a 0.3Mt/yr petcoke supply deal with the Egyptian Refining Company. Sergio Alcantarilla, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Arabian Cement said that the agreement was part of the company’s plans to reduce its production costs and improve operational performance by diversifying its energy sources, according to the Daily News Egypt newspaper. The company operates a 5Mt/yr integrated cement plant at Ain Sokhna in the Suez Governorate.


Russia: Siberian Cement is spending around Euro4m on upgrading the automated process control system (APCS) at its cement plants. The project, which is about half way along, is scheduled for completion in 2023.


Singapore/Namibia: International Cement Group (ICG) has extended the stop date of its agreement to buy Schwenk Namibia by six months to 31 January 2020. It follows the decision by the Singapore Exchange to block the proposed acquisition in June 2019 on the grounds that it did not meet the requirements for a ‘very substantial acquisition.’ ICG announced in March 2019 that it had arranged to buy a 100% stake in Schwenk Namibia for US$104m. Schwenk Namibia owns a 69.8% share of Ohorongo Cement.


Colombia: Cemex Latam Holdings has denied that it has an office dedicated to illegal activity following accusations of bribery in the local media. In a statement to the Superintendencia Financiera de Colombia, the company said that its Enterprise Risk Management office “supports the decision-making process by anticipating and coordinating risk management that could make it difficult for Cemex to reach its strategic objectives and identify short, medium and long-term opportunities.” It addd that risk management was an institutional process followed by companies around the world to anticipate and mitigate potential business hazards.

Cemex Colombia has been linked by Semana magazine and other outlets to payments to political figures in return for preferential treatment on construction contracts. The cement producer has also faced a long running investigation by local and US agencies into unusual payments relating to its Maceo cement plant project in Antioquia.


US: Nine of Cemex USA’s ready-mixed concrete (RMX) plants in the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California have earned ISO 14001:2015 certification for their environmental management systems (EMS). The company says these are the first RMX operations in the country to achieve the designation.

The nine plants located in Berkeley, Concord, Oakland, Pleasanton, San Carlos, San Francisco, San Jose, Union City and Santa Clara, California each received certification after Lloyd’s Register, an accredited third-party organisation, audited Cemex USA’s West Region management system at corporate and site level, verifying that it conforms to the standard. In addition to the plants, Cemex USA’s Livermore office also earned the certification.

“Effective environmental management systems are critical in helping our operations meet and exceed our environmental and sustainability goals. By following well-established standards of ISO 14001:2015, our operations can continue to build on their successes while serving as inspiring examples for others to follow across the US,” said Cemex USA president Ignacio Madridejos.

Earlier in 2010 Cemex’s Clinchfield cement plant in Georgia became the first Cemex operation in the US to achieve ISO 14001:2015 certification. The company is currently in the process of achieving the certification at several other of its operations in cement, ready-mix and aggregates across the country.