Global Cement News

Afghanistan: Al-Falah Al-Alami Company will build a new cement plant in Jabal Saraj, north of Kabul, with an investment of US$220m. The plant is expected to reduce Afghanistan’s dependency on imported cement. It is reportedly being built on a 120-hectare site and will create employment opportunities for around 5000 people. All raw materials required for cement production will be sourced locally.

According to a post on X by spokesman for the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, Mawlawi Zabihullah Mujahid, the Jabal Saraj cement plant will have the capacity to produce 5000t/day of cement or 1.6Mt/yr.

UK: Aggregate Industries has built a 45m high and 32m diameter airform dome silo at the Port of Tilbury in Essex. The silo is part of its new cement import, manufacturing and distribution facility, which is under construction. The inflatable structure will store up to 30,000t of cement to support demand for construction materials in the region. Aggregate Industries worked with US-based Dome Technology to inflate the dome. Contractor Dome Technology will now apply nearly 4500m³ of sprayed and wet mix concrete to form the dome silo.

The cement facility is expected to be operational in 2026.

Germany: Fluor has signed a front-end engineering and design (FEED) contract with Heidelberg Materials for its GeZero project to integrate an industrial-scale CO₂ capture and storage solution into its cement production facility in Geseke. Fluor will recognise the undisclosed contract value in the fourth quarter of 2024. It will be responsible for design integration of several decarbonisation technologies at the Geseke cement production facility. Construction is planned to start in 2026, with commissioning three years later.

Huaxin Cement revealed this week that it is buying Holcim’s majority stake in Lafarge Africa for US$1bn. The moment marks a big step in the China-based cement producer’s international ambitions. It has been linked in the financial media to many divestments around the world in recent years. Yet this appears to be its largest acquisition so far and it adds to what is becoming a serious sized multinational business in Sub-Saharan Africa.

The details of the deal are that Holcim has agreed to sell its 83% share of Lafarge Africa to Huaxin Cement. Lafarge Africa operates four integrated cement plants in Nigeria at Sagamu and Ewekoro in Ogun State, at Mfamosing in Cross River State and the Ashaka Cement plant in Gombe State. It has a combined production capacity of 10.5Mt/yr. The transaction is expected to close in 2025 subject to regulatory approvals.

Holcim holds a relationship with Huaxin Cement that dates back to the late 1990s when it first bought a stake in the company. Following the formation of LafargeHolcim in the mid-2010s, Lafarge’s subsidiary Lafarge China Cement was sold to Huaxin Cement. At the end of 2023 Holcim reported that it owned just under a 42% share in the company. Huaxin Cement has also bought assets from Holcim as the latter company has divested subsidiaries over the last decade. In 2021 it bought Lafarge Zambia and Pan African Cement in Malawi from Holcim. This adds to other acquisitions in the region. In 2020 it purchased African Tanzanian Maweni Limestone from ARM Cement. Later in 2023 it picked up InterCement’s subsidiaries in Mozambique and South Africa. In addition, in October 2024 local media in Zimbabwe reported that the company was planning to build a grinding plant. Now, throw in the plants in Nigeria and Huaxin Cement is the second biggest cement producer in Sub-Saharan Africa after Dangote Cement.

Huaxin Cement said it had an overseas cement grinding capacity of just under 21Mt/yr at the end of 2023. However, this figure included plants in Cambodia, Kyrgyzstan, Nepal, Oman, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Data from the Global Cement Directory 2024 suggests that the company now has 10 integrated cement plants in Sub-Saharan Africa with a cement capacity of around 18Mt/yr. It also operates a number of grinding plants in these countries.

The Lafarge Africa deal is significant because a mainland China-based cement producer has finally hit the US$1bn window in merger and acquisition (M&A) activity overseas. Many potential acquisitions in the sector are linked by the press to Chinese companies these days. However, most of the activity to date has been of a plant-by-plant or piecemeal nature. Alternatively, these companies have been building their own plants around the world as part of the Belt and Road Initiative. Taiwan Cement Corporation (TCC) has spent more buying itself into Türkiye-based OYAK Cement since 2018 but it is headquartered in Taipei.

The question from here is how much further does Huaxin Cement plan to expand both in Africa and beyond? The obvious answer is that it will keep going given the state of the cement sector back home in China, the retreat of the western multinationals and the demographic trends in the region. World population growth is predicted to be fastest in Africa in the coming decades and demand for cement should follow. Outside of Africa, the ‘big’ one recently has been InterCement in Brazil. Unfortunately for Huaxin Cement though, InterCement extended its exclusivity deal with Companhia Siderúrgica Nacional (CSN) in November 2024. If the Lafarge Africa transaction completes then it will be the biggest deal yet and it will welcome a China-based cement company to the big league of international M&A. It may just be the start.

Philippines: The Consunji Group has appointed Herbert M Consunji as the president and CEO of Cemex Holdings Philippines (CHP). The group completed its acquisitions of CHP from Cemex in early December 2024, according to the Manila Bulletin newspaper. It plans to change the name of the company to Concreat Holdings Philippines subject to the approval of shareholders at a meeting to be held in February 2025.

Consunji is the Executive Vice President, Chief Finance Officer, Chief Compliance Officer and Chief Risk Officer of DMCI Holdings, part of Consunji Group. He concurrently sits on the board of various DMCI Holdings subsidiary companies. He is a certified public accountant and he graduated from De La Salle University in Manila with a degree in commerce majoring in Accounting.