Global Cement News

Nigeria: Lafarge Africa has made a donation of US$1.29m to the battle against Covid-19 in Nigeria. Business Day news has reported that the money will go towards “various initiatives aimed at fighting the pandemic.” Lafarge Africa previously gave the use of three of its facilities and donated personal protective equipment (PPE) for the isolation and treatment of Coronavrius patients in April 2020.

US: CRH subsidiary Ash Grove Cement says that it is undertaking an upgrade of its Port Manatee, Florida deep water cement terminal to install a high capacity FLSmidth Kovako unloader and modernise existing material transfer and electrical systems, as well as establishing self-loading capabilities. The aim of the upgrade is “to improve Ash Grove’s capacity to import cement clinker, slag and fly ash to meet the existing and future needs of customers in the Florida and South Georgia markets.

Regional president Monica Manolas said, “The underlying fundamentals in the Florida market are positive with good population and employment growth. The upgrade of the Port Manatee import terminal will expand our capabilities and strengthen our ability to meet growing demand in the region.”

The company says that construction will begin in early 2021 and the upgraded terminal will open in late 2021.

UK: Hanson Cement’s Ketton plant has been featured in a short film as part of ‘Triple Harvest’ by Fermynwoods Contemporary Art, an arts charity’s online exhibition of video films looking at public spaces in Northamptonshire. The programme explores the push and pull between nature and human presence and the effect that extracting resources from the landscape has upon those living within it. Amanda Loomes’ film ‘Combine’ mixes footage from the Ketton cement plant in Rutland in 2017 with archive extracts from ‘Double Harvest,’ ‘The Great Jib’ and ‘Iron Ore in Britain.’

Other works in the programme examine the experience of steel production, farming and the experience of refugees moving to the area. The project has been supported by Corby Borough Council Archives and funded by Arts Council England.

View the 'Triple Harvest' online exhibition here: http://fermynwoods.org/triple-harvest-films/

India: Credit rating agency Fitch Ratings has forecast a 15% year-on-year decline in domestic cement demand in the 2021 financial year, which ends on 30 March 2021 due to “weak property demand and a sluggish construction cycle.” Fitch Ratings gave the reasons for the decline as “low consumer confidence caused by business uncertainty and unemployment concerns,” causing “underlying appetites of financial institutions to lend to the construction sector to remain weak” in spite of the Reserve Bank of India’s temporary funding relief measures to the sector, which include “loan restructuring, moratoriums and relaxed lending limits.”

Fitch Ratings reported that steel demand will also fall by 10% in the 2021 financial year.

UK: Breedon Group says that it has “continued to deliver an encouraging trading performance since demand began to return in early May 2020 after the Covid-19 lockdown,” recording eight-month sales of Euro580m over the period that ended on 31 August 2020, down by 15% from Euro681 over the corresponding period of 2019. The group says that the figure includes the contributions of its newly acquired Cemex ready-mix and aggregates assets for August 2020.

As a result of this performance, the board reinstated its 2020 guidance, with underlying earnings before interest and taxation (EBIT) for the second half of 2020 anticipated to be in line with that in the second half of 2019. It added, “We continue to be reassured by the UK government's restated commitment to investment in the UK's infrastructure and to encouraging demand from the UK housing market, complemented by similar trends in the Republic of Ireland.”