Global Cement News

Thailand: Siam Cement Group’s sales dropped by 12% year-on-year to US$3.47bn during the first nine months of 2023. The group’s net profit remained level year-on-year, at US$67.4m.

India: ACC recorded sales of US$1.16bn during the first half of its 2024 financial year that started in April 2023. This represents a year-on-year rise of 14% from US$1.02bn in the first half of the previous financial year. Cement sales grew by 15%, to US$1.08bn, 94% of total sales. The company’s raw materials costs rose by 16% to US$185m, while its power and fuel costs fell by 24% to US$241m, failing to offset a 5% rise in overall costs, to US$1.06bn. As such, ACC reported a profit after tax of US$102m, up by a factor of six from nine-month 2023 financial year levels.

US: Eagle Materials sold 4.14Mt of cement during the first half of its 2024 financial year, from 1 April 2023, a slight increase from the volume sold in the same period in its 2023 financial year. It reported sales revenue from its wholly owned cement business of US$614m, up by 15% year-on-year and corresponding to 50% of total group sales. Overall, group revenue rose by 4.9% to US$1.22bn.

President and chief executive officer Michael Haack said "Market conditions for our construction materials remained resilient during the quarter, even as the Federal Reserve continued to raise interest rates and tighten money supply to contain inflation. Several factors helped offset the higher rates and supported demand for cement, including limited housing supply, strong homebuyer demand, increasing infrastructure awards and significant investment in domestic manufacturing facilities. As demand remained strong and our operations remained nearly sold-out, we implemented a second round of cement price increases in early July across half our markets, and announced the next round of price increases for early January 2024.” Haack added “We expect that our portfolio of businesses will remain well-positioned for the second half of fiscal 2024."

Vietnam: Cement producers received 811,000t of boiler slag and fly ash from the Vinh Tan 1 coal-fired power plant in Binh Thuan during the first nine months of 2023. This corresponds to 74% of the volume of the by-products generated at the plant during the period. Việt Nam News has reported that the nearby Vinh Tan 4 coal-fired power plant also ‘almost entirely’ avoided waste in the same way. The Vinh Tan 1 coal-fired power plant ended the period with 4.3Mt of ash and slag in stockpiles, while the neighbouring Vinh Tan 2 Thermal Power Plant had 7Mt.

The provincial government of Binh Thuan Province has lobbied the Ministry of Construction to review and adjust current requirements around HDPE liner use, water quality testing and radiation safety in order to facilitate the use of boiler slag and fly ash in cement and other construction products.

Mexico: Cemex’s sales were US$13.2bn during the first nine months of 2023, up by 13% year-on-year from US$11.7bn in the first nine months of 2022. The group’s operating earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) were US$2.6bn, up by 27% from US$2.1bn. This came in spite of a 7% year-on-year decline in its cement volumes, to 39.1Mt from 41.8Mt. Volumes rose by 3% in Mexico, but fell by 13% in the US, 4% in South, Central America and the Caribbean and 10% in Europe, Middle East, Asia and Africa.

Cemex chief executive officer Fernando González said “2023 is proving to be an exceptional year for our company, and I am especially encouraged by our recovery of EBITDA margins to 2021 levels, a key strategic priority. The success of our pricing strategy, contribution of growth investments and our fast-growing Urbanisation Solutions business, as well as decelerating cost inflation, are contributing to profitability in a very meaningful way.” He continued “We are making significant progress on our decarbonization roadmap, reducing Scope 1 and Scope 2 carbon emissions by 12% and 11%, respectively, since 2020. Prior to the introduction of our Future in Action programme in 2020, a reduction of this magnitude would have taken almost 15 years.”