Global Cement News

Bosnia & Herzegovina: Austria’s Asamer Baustoffe has made a bid for the remaining share of Fabrika Cementa Lukavac. At present it owns 99% of the cement producer. Fabrika Cementa Lukavac operates 0.8Mt/yr integrated plant at Lukavac.

Brazil: Mineração Belocal, a subsidiary of Belgium’s Lhoist, has purchased L-Imerys, a lime producer that operates a plant at Doresópolis in Minas Gerais. L-Imerys is a subsidiary of France’s Imerys, according to the Diário do Comércio newspaper. The 0.4Mt/yr lime plant was inaugurated in 2013. The sales is depending on approval by the relevant competition bodies. No value for the acquisition has been disclosed.

Finland: Cargotec has signed an agreement with JCE Invest to establish a joint venture, Bruks Siwertell Group, specialised in dry bulk handling. The new joint venture will own Siwertell and Bruks Holding. Cargotec will own 48% of the shares in Bruks Siwertell Group and JCE Invest will own the remaining share.

"This joint venture supports Cargotec's strategy to focus on container ports, heavy industrial segment and logistics. Siwertell's business is outside these core focus areas, with different customers, customer locations and limited synergies with the rest of our businesses. By joining forces with JCE Group, we are able to create a company that will be a significant player in the bulk material handling with a globally competitive and specialised product portfolio," said Antti Kaunonen, president of Kalmar, part of the Cargotec group.

Siwertell is a supplier of ship unloaders, road-mobile unloaders, port-mobile unloaders, ship loaders, mechanical and pneumatic conveying systems, and bulk terminal solutions. Bruks specialises in mechanical-engineering and equipment supply for the bulk materials handling industries.

Switzerland: LafargeHolcim has blamed falling earnings in the first quarter of 2018 on poor weather in North America and Europe. Its recurring earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell by 7.7% on a like-for-like basis year-on-year to Euro587m from Euro678m in the same period in 2017. Its net sales rose by 3.1% to Euro4.89bn and its cement sales volumes rose by 3.2% to 47.7Mt on a like-for-like basis.

By region cement sales volumes fell on a like-for-like basis in Europe, Middle East Africa and North America. LafargeHolcim said that cement volumes were down slightly in its Middle East Africa region due to a mixed outlook in the region with ‘challenging’ conditions in key markets. In Asia Pacific it said that China and India drove its growth in sales and profits but that there was continued pressure in South East Asia.

“Though the quarter was affected by several headwinds, we expect the strength of our portfolio and the benefits of our new strategy to become increasingly visible over the full year. That makes us confident we will deliver on our 2018 targets,” said Jan Jenisch, Group Chief Executive Officer of LafargeHolcim. He added that the group was conducting its Strategy 2022 reorganisation plan.

India: Sanghi Industries has received environment clearance for an upgrade to its cement plant at Sanghipuram, Kutch district in Gujarat. The unit’s clinker production capacity is being raised to 7.5Mt/yr from 3.5Mt/yr, according to the Times of India newspaper. Its cement production capacity is being increased to 8.6Mt/yr from 4Mt/yr. The US$194m project also involves building a cement grinding plant at Surat. The project is expected to be completed in 2020.