Global Cement News

France: Vicat’s cement sales rose by 1.8% year-on-year to Euro948m in the first nine months of 2018 from Euro932m in the same period in 2017. At constant scope and exchange rates it rose by 10.2%. Overall sales grew by 1.4% to Euro1.95bn from Euro1.92bn. The group’s sales volumes of cement rose by 3.1% to 17.4Mt from 16.9Mt.

“The group achieved healthy increases over the period in all our territories, except Switzerland and Egypt,” said the group’s chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) Guy Sidos. “In the third quarter, business trends held up well, despite a downturn in the economic and industry environment in Turkey, which was hit by the sharp depreciation in its currency. The acquisition of Ciplan in Brazil, a country with tremendous potential, reinforces Vicat’s strategy of sustainable growth, leveraging its high-quality assets and strong regional positions to generate cash flow.”

India: The Industries Department of Himachal Pradesh is planning to re-advertise the tender for a white cement plant project at Sikridhar in the Chamba district. The state government received no bids for the project in the last round of bidding, according to the Tribune newspaper. Only ACC expressed any interest in the process by buying the big papers.

The local government wants the project to be awarded by May 2019 and it is expected to cost around US$138m. The project is a long running scheme that was first suggested in 2002.

Mexico: Cemex says that its digital platform, Cemex Go, has reached over 20,000 customers in 18 countries in the first year of its operation. This figure represents about 60% of Cemex’s total recurring customers worldwide or about 20% of its global sales. The system allows the company and its customers to manage order placement, live tracking of shipments and invoices and payments for the company’s main products, including bagged and bulk cement. Cemex also expects that analytics data from the platform will enable it to make efficiency savings.

Neoris is also helping to commercialise the platform to other heavy building material companies in partnership with IBM. This builds upon Neoris and IBM’s experience helping Cemex develop and launch the digital product.

US: GCP Applied Technologies’ net sales from its Specialty Construction Chemicals division grew by 5.9% year-on-year to US$165m in the third quarter of 2018 from US$156m in the same period in 2017 due to higher volumes in its Concrete and Cement businesses. Overall, the company’s net sales rose by a similar percentage. It manufactures a range of additives for cement production under the Opteva and Tavero brands.

Honduras: President Juan Orlando Hernández has asked local cement producers to offer cement at a discount for use in government projects. The government and the two main producers have formed a commission to determine how to implement the request, according to La Tribuna newspaper. However, Juan Carlos Sikaffy, the head of the Honduran Council of Private Enterprise (COHEP), descirbed the issue as ‘delicate’ given the taxes the cement companies pay and the jobs they create.