Global Cement News

Zambia: Dangote Cement Zambia says that it has no source of reasonably priced gypsum following the closure of Chambeshi Minerals. The Mast newspaper has reported that other local suppliers are quoting prices for the raw material in US dollars because of currency devaluation due to the weak economic situation following a coronavirus-related lockdown.

The immediate effect of the supply chain disruption has been a rise in cement prices. Copperbelt Provincial Minister Japhen Mwakalombe said, “For us to develop, we need infrastructure development. We can’t build without cement and our people can’t afford these prices. Quoting in dollars shows that gypsum dealers want to sabotage the economy and we need the law to address this. It shows that some companies are not patriotic and do not want to support the government of the day.”

UK: The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has announced that it will consider the undertakings offered by Breedon Group to which its deal with Cemex UK for acquisition of several of the latter’s ready-mix and aggregates operations would be subject. The regulator explained its ruling by saying, “There are reasonable grounds for believing that the undertakings might be accepted by the CMA under the Enterprise Act 2002.” This may lead to the completion of the acquisitions, which were agreed on 21 January 2020.

Mexico: Cemex has launched Operation Resilience, its 2020 medium-term strategy. The plan consists of strategic divestments, US$280m in cost reduction and optimisation of the company’s portfolio towards European and US markets.

Chief executive officer (CEO) Fernando Gonzalez said, “Operation Resilience lays the foundation for our future. It allows Cemex to optimise its portfolio for profitable growth while securing its position as a leading vertically-integrated heavy building materials company with a focus on four core businesses: cement, ready-mix, aggregates and urbanisation solutions. We will concentrate on developing sustainable urbanisation solutions which meet the needs of growing metropolises while we ourselves progress towards achieving our long-term decarbonisation goals.”

China: Anhui Conch subsidiary Anhui Haibo Intelligent Technology has announced the signing with Huawei of a contract of collaboration towards developing systems for using driverless vehicles in mineral extraction operations. General manager He Shenzhong said, “Huawei and Conch have joined forces to empower traditional industries with high-intelligence technology. The goal is to create a world-class unmanned open-pit mine project, transform the unmanned technology achievements of open-pit mines into actual productivity projects, and establish unmanned open-pit mines – a new benchmark for the development of traditional industries.”

Russia: Eurocement subsidiary Mordovcement has begun packaging its CEM-I Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) in 50kg bags made of polypropylene. The company said that the plastic has strength advantages over paper and makes its products harder to counterfeit. It advised customers to reuse the bags for collection and disposal of waste, or to recycle them.