Global Cement News

Nigeria: BUA Group has announced its acquisition of a majority shareholding in PW Nigeria, one of Nigeria’s leading construction, engineering and mining companies. According to BUA, this was necessary to further deepen its investments in the infrastructure business in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Speaking on the acquisition, Abdul Samad Rabiu, executive chairman of BUA Group, said, “This acquisition marks the beginning of the next phase of our medium term strategy for our infrastructure business following the completion of the consolidation of our cement arm, BUA Cement in January 2020. BUA’s acquisition of majority holdings in PW Nigeria provides a prime opportunity to increase our investments in the entire value chain of the cement, mining and construction sector. We believe PW Nigeria, with its solid experience in building dams, roads, airports, water projects and other infrastructure projects in Nigeria, provided a strong value proposition too difficult to ignore.”

Armenia: The Armenian government has announced that it plans to extend the duration of state duties on cement imported from Iran and several other countries until 1 July 2020. The decision was made on the basis of analysis that confirmed an extension of the customs duties was appropriate. The government said that it would continue to monitor the situation.

According to the RA Statistical Committee Armenia produced 0.59Mt of cement in 2019, 8.1% more than in 2018. The RA Customs Service reported that the country imported 0.31Mt in 2019, a year-on-year increase of 70.5%.

EU: The coronavirus has caused emissions credits sold under the Emissions Trading Scheme to take a price dive to Euro16.31/t of CO₂ on 19 March 2020, down by 36% month-on-month from Euro25.66/t on 19 February 2020 and 22% year-on-year from Euro21.01/t on 19 March 2020. Environmental consultancy firm Energy Aspects said, “As the COVID-19 outbreak is now spreading rapidly in Europe, it will start to reduce emissions as lockdowns are put in place in multiple countries,” according to Reuters. The European Commission has forecasted a 1.0% contraction in the EU economy in 2020, revising its February estimate of 1.4% growth year-on-year. This would correspond to a reduction in industrial CO₂ emissions of between 10.0Mt and 20.0Mt by the end of year.

Greece: Titan Group’s profit dropped by 5.5% year-on-year to Euro50.9m in 2019, from Euro53.8m in 2018. The group said that it ‘demonstrated strength’ in ‘sustaining a growth performance’ despite challenges in Southeastern Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean. Sales were Euro1.61bn, up by 8.0% from Euro1.49bn in 2018, led by Titan Group’s US subsidiary Titan America’s sales growth of 10.7%, to Euro952m from Euro860m. Titan Group’s Greece and Western Europe sales grew to Euro245m, up by 3.3% from Euro237m in 2018, with sales gains from the private sector offsetting the decreased revenue from delays in public infrastructure projects. Cement exports, especially to the US, were also a major regional sales contributor, while clinker exports fell.

Group volumes of cement, including clinker and cementitious materials, were 17.0Mt, down by 7% from 18.2Mt.

World: Cement producers are mobilising human and material resources and implementing strategies to keep operations going with the minimum possible impact from the coronavirus. Germany-based HeidelbergCement subsidiary Lehigh Hanson has closed a minority of its facilities and prepared a contingency plan for further reduced operations ‘if conditions worsen.’ Brazil-based Votorantim Cimentos has established a Special Coronavirus Crisis Management Commission to aid communications and emergency response implementation across its facilities. UK-based Quinn has suspended all non-essential travel for employees.