Global Cement News

Kenya: Frontier Energy subsidiary Momnai Energy has begun building two solar power plants at sites belonging to Bamburi Cement. One 14.5MW plant will be situated at the producer’s 1.1Mt/yr Mombasa cement plant, while another 5MW plant will be situated at its Nairobi grinding plant. When commissioned, they will cover 30% of the producer’s energy consumption. Momnai Energy will finance, manage and maintain the solar power plants on the basis of a power purchase agreement (PPA) signed between the parties in 2021.

Bamburi Cement chief executive officer Mohit Kapoor said that the project ‘represents one of Kenya's most substantial commercial solar endeavours undertaken by a cement company, and a first for Holcim in Sub-Saharan Africa.’ He added that it will lead to cost savings, reduced vulnerability to load shedding and ‘substantial’ progress towards achieving net zero CO₂ emissions.

UK: The World Cement Association (WCA) has welcomed the introduction of the revised BS 8500 standard, which allows for a wider range of Portland limestone cement (PLC) and ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS) combinations in concrete. WCA chief executive officer Ian Riley, however, described the revision as ‘not breaking new ground but catching up.’ He called on the UK and other jurisdictions to begin enacting performance-based standards.

Riley said “It is good to see BSI making this change to concrete standards, however, this is still a very modest step forward. Firstly, ground limestone has been used successfully as a cement component in many markets for decades. Secondly, in order to produce concrete with the lowest embodied carbon and the highest circularity, we need to move away from standards that require particular recipes.”

UK: Carbon Re has published a whitepaper entitled ‘Levers of Change’ that examines six key levers to accelerate decarbonisation in the cement industry. The document is intended to help companies in the sector navigate related regulatory and commercial factors. The six levers it examines are: standards; regulations; customer demand; technologies; capital; and financing and commercial advantages.

The whitepaper can be downloaded here: https://carbonre.com/levers-of-change

China: China National Building Material (CNBM) plans to rearrange shareholding in Sinoma Cement between its subsidiaries. On 4 December 2023, fellow CNBM subsidiary Sinoma International Engineering agreed to buy US$174m-worth of shares in Sinoma Cement. Upon completion of this, Sinoma International Engineering and New Tianshan Cement will together buy US$975m-worth of shares. Following these subscriptions, Sinoma Cement’s share capital will rise by 67%, to US$436m. New Tianshan Cement’s total stake in the company will be 60%.

The group’s first-half 2023 interim report recorded Sinoma Cement as a 100% subsidiary of New Tianshan Cement.

Colombia: Grupo Argos launched a buyback of US$10.1m-worth of its shares on 4 December 2023. Local press has reported that the offer covers US$8.33m-worth of common shares and US$1.73m worth of preferred shares. The offer will remain open until 7 December 2023.