Global Cement News

India: UltraTech Cement sold 106Mt of cement during the 2023 financial year, which ended on 31 March 2023. This corresponds to a 12% year-on-year rise from 94Mt in the 2022 financial year. The producer sold 30Mt of cement during the fourth quarter of the financial year, up by 14% year-on-year from 28Mt.

The Hindu newspaper has reported that UltraTech Cement ended the financial year with a cement production capacity of 134Mt/yr, including 2Mt/yr-worth of white cement capacity. It also operates three wall putty plants.

Hungary: The government has enacted an 'architecture law' which will increase its role in decision making within the Hungarian cement industry. When it enters force in July 2023, the law will let the government set producers' cement volumes and prices. It will also require the companies to sell their products to the market-leading retail network, and will give the government a right of first refusal over future divestments.

Der Spiegel News has reported that the government previously enacted decrees that further regulated limestone production, imposed 90% 'additional mining levies' and required producers to obtain special permits to export their cement abroad. Duna-Dráva Cement, a subsidiary of Heidelberg Materials and Schwenk Zement, reportedly began making losses on its bagged cement sales due to the new rules. Both Germany-based owners separately received letters inviting them to sell a stake in Duna-Dráva Cement, and thanking them for their cooperation, in 2022. The sender identified themself as the owner of an 'intensively expanding group of companies' with a 'dominant position in the Hungarian building materials industry.' Anti-corruption organisation Transparency International identified the correspondent as a friend of Hungarian President Viktor Orbán.

Regarding the incoming change to the law, a representative of Heidelberg Materials said "These regulations are a total violation of all the rules of the European internal market. It is obvious that the government wants to pressure foreign cement manufacturers to sell.”

Japan: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) and Osaka Gas have launched a collaboration to develop a value chain for captured CO₂ from Japan's hard-to-abate industries, including the cement sector. JCN Newswire has reported that their collaboration will leverage MHI's expertise in CO₂ capture, liquefied CO₂ maritime vessel transport and CO₂ management, and Osaka Gas' expertise in e-methane production and CO₂ storage. The project will integrate MHI and IBM Japan's CO₂nnex software platform to model value chains. The project aims to contribute to the realisation of Japan's target of net zero CO₂ emissions by 2050.

UK: Hanson UK says that its planned installation of a carbon capture system at its Padeswood cement plant in Flintshire has proceeded to the due diligence and negotiations stage. The project aims to achieve net zero CO₂ cement production by capturing 800,000t/yr of CO₂. It is part of the HyNet North West array of projects, which combines green hydrogen and carbon capture to build a first-of-its-kind industrial decarbonisation cluster.

Hanson UK CEO Simon Willis said “I would like to thank the government and all of those that supported us in our bid to receive funding which will enable us to help decarbonise the construction industry and meet our overall ambition to become a net zero business. This global exemplar project will provide net zero construction materials for major projects across the country, from new offshore wind farms and nuclear power stations to clean transport infrastructure.”

Colombia: A criminal court has found former Cemex Colombia vice president Édgar Ramírez Martínez and fellow former director Eugenio Correa Díaz guilty of fraud, according to El Espactador newspaper. The court found that Ramírez Martínez had committed unfair administration, illicit enrichment and falsification of a private document in the process of obtaining land for use as a quarry to supply its Maceo cement plant in Antioquia. It found that Correa Díaz had committed illicit enrichment, money laundering and falsification of a private document while serving as an intermediary in the same process. Ramírez Martínez received a prison sentence of 15 years and one month, while Correa Díaz received a sentence of 20 years.

Cemex Colombia obtained the land in question during the administration of the estate of deceased embezzler José Aldemar Moncada. The court found that it had defrauded the true owners, a local family, in order to include it in Moncada's asset forfeiture prior to sale to Cemex Colombia by Correa Díaz.