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Holcim to close down cement factory in Hungary 10 October 2012
Hungary: Holcim's Hungarian subsidiary Holcim Hungaria Zrt plans to close its cement plant in Labatlan in 2013. 94 employees will be affected by the decision to stop production at the wet kiln plant.
Holcim Hungaria Zrt originally planned to shut the 144 year-old plant by 2010 but its lifetime had previously been extended by environment-friendly investments of almost Euro1.76m to 2016. In a press release the company blamed the downturn of Hungary's construction industry for the closure.
Holcim employed more than 500 people at its cement, concrete and aggregates plants in Hungary in 2010, and 413 at the end of 2011. Its combined revenue in Hungary exceeded Euro84.7m in 2010, but this fell to Euro63.2m in 2011.
At the end of 2011 Holcim Hungaria Zrt indefinitely shelved a plan to build a cement plant in Nyergesujfalu that was designed to replace the plant in Labatlan. It also postponed the construction of a cement distribution base in Dabas, near Budapest.
Hanson to announce job losses 10 October 2012
UK: Hanson, the UK subsidiary of HeidelbergCement Group, has announced that it will have to make job losses after a fall in demand. Hanson told its workers that demand for its core products, including asphalt, concrete and cement, had fallen by more than 10% during 2012 and that 2013 is likely to be worse.
The company said that it would have to take steps to balance the size of the business by reducing capacity and bringing overheads into line, moves that would 'inevitably' result in job losses.
An announcement on restructuring proposals will be made by the end of October 2012, with no details available yet on the number of job losses. The GMB union said it feared that hundreds of jobs will be lost.
Uruguay: Three cement companies are planning to invest up to US$262m in the Treinta y Tres region of Uruguay to meet demand for building materials driven by the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games.
The Uruguan state oil and cement company Ancap, alongside Spanish firm Cementos Molins and Brazil's Votorantim, have filed an environmental impact study for a new cement plant with a capacity of 750,000t/yr. Total costs are estimated at US$160m, with Cementos Molins contributing 60% of the investment and Ancap and Votarantim contributing 20% each.
Ancap is also preparing environmental studies for two new lime production plants. A first unit will have a capacity of 150t/day with an investment of US$7m. Ancap has already secured a contract with Brazilian federal power holding group Eletrobras to place this production. A second unit will have a capacity of 500t/day with an investment of US$95m, including infrastructure costs related to the project.
In order to provide the region with better export options towards Brazil, Uruguayan port authority ANP is trying to develop a commercial route connecting the Merín and the Los Patos lakes. Merín lake is on the border between Uruguay and Brazil's southernmost state Rio Grande do Sul, and it is connected by the San Gonzalo canal to the Los Patos lake, which in turn empties into the Atlantic ocean.
CRH terminates Jaypee acquisition 09 October 2012
Ireland/India: International building materials group CRH has said that negotiations with Jaypee Cement Corporation have been terminated because the parties were unable to agree terms.
On 7 August 2012 CRH announced that it had entered into talks with Jaypee regarding the possible purchase by CRH of an equity stake in Jaypee's Gujarat cement business. The operations in Gujurat consisted of clinker plants with a total capacity of 3.6Mt/yr. There are also two cement grinding plants with a total capacity of 2.8Mt/yr.
CMAN declares Nigeria self-sufficient in cement 08 October 2012
Nigeria: Chairman of the Cement Manufacturing Association of Nigeria (CMAN), Joseph Makoju, has announced that Nigeria is producing more cement than it consumes, at a meeting held in Calabar, Cross River State.
Makoju said that the Nigerian cement industry was recording success at a time when the manufacturing sector as a whole in the country was shrinking. He attributed the slide in the price of cement to a surplus in the market, a feat he described as a first in the country.
"We believe that Nigeria has arrived as a cement manufacturing country. We are out to encourage local production against importation. The government has been very faithful as local production rose from 2Mt in 2002 to 13Mt in 2011 and so far this year to 17Mt," said Makoju. He added that for the first time in the country's history it had gone nine months without the government issuing licenses for cement imports. CMAN is now working out ways to export cement to other countries in the west African sub-region. Yet despite the surplus CMAN is still encouraging investors to build more cement plants.
Other issues raised at the meeting included the effect the poor state of Nigeria's roads has on the price of cement. Makoju estimated that 30% of the price comes from haulage fees which CMAN has no control over. CMAN has taken up the issue with the government and recommended the use of concrete road construction.