Global Cement News

Uzbekistan: Hengyuan Cement has held a ground-breaking ceremony at the site of its up-coming cement plant in the Kattakurgan district of Samarkand. The plant, a joint-venture between Chinese and Uzbek partners, will have a capacity of 3Mt/yr and cost US$350m to construct. Cement will be sold in the local market and, according to developers, exported to as far afield as the European Union.

At the opening ceremony, the Hokim of Samarkand region Erkinjon Turdimov and Chinese partners noted that cooperation between Uzbekistan and China has been developing steadily in recent years. The project will lead to 600 new direct jobs. The long-awaited cement plant was first announced in 2018, but has repeatedly been delayed, particularly by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Colombia: Data from DANE, the Colombian national statistics authority, shows that the country produced 1.22Mt of grey cement in July 2023, a 1.7% increase compared to July 2022. Of this, 1.05Mt was consumed domestically, a 6.5% fall year-on-year, with exports increasing to compensate. The July 2023 production figure is 9.2% higher than for the July 2019, the year before the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. DANE also recorded that Colombia produced 557,900m3 of ready-mix concrete in July 2023, a 3.1% decline compared to July 2022, when 575,800m3 was produced.

Spain: Cement consumption in Catalonia fell by 11% in August 2023, while production fell by 2.7%, and exports by 32.7%, according to regional cement association Ciment Català. During the 12 months, to 31 August 2023 consumption decreased by 2.9% to 2.24Mt, while production fell by 4.4% to 3.15Mt and exports fell by 3.7% to 1.74Mt. Ciment Català’s president, Salvador Fernández, attributed these declines to the poor economic situation in the autonomous region, a lack of investment and ‘the challenges of the decarbonisation process,’ according to Europa Press.

Ireland/US: CRH has completed the move of its primary listing to the New York Stock Exchange. The group will retain a standard listing on the London Stock Exchange.

It said it had made the transition because “We believe a US primary listing will bring increased commercial, operational and acquisition opportunities for our business, further accelerating our successful integrated solutions strategy and delivering even higher levels of profitability, returns and cash for our shareholders.” It added that the North America market represents around 75% of the group’s earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) and that the US is expected to “be a key driver of future growth for CRH due to continued economic expansion, a growing population and significant construction needs.”

Albert Manifold, the chief executive officer of CRH, commented, “Today marks an important milestone in CRH’s development which will enable us to fully participate in the significant growth opportunities that lie ahead for our business”.

China: Taiwan Cement (TCC) commissioned a 107MWh energy storage project at its Yingde plant in Guangdong province in August 2023. Subsidiary NHOA Energy worked on the project that linked the battery storage capacity to a 42MW waste heat recovery (WHR) system and a 8MWp solar photovoltaic unit. It uses lithium iron phosphate batteries supplied by Ningde Times.

The company’s say that the project is one of the largest industrial microgrids in the world. It is intended to provide energy flexibility to the cement plant by using NHOA Energy’s proprietary energy management system to manage peaks in energy demand and acting as a backup for critical equipment to avoid damage caused by sudden blackouts.

The NHOA Energy storage project is expected to store about 46000MWh/yr of electricity and save just under US$3m/yr in electricity costs. The system will also support the Guangdong Provincial Government’s energy storage development policy and be eligible to associated subsidies of over US$350,000/yr.

Giuseppe Artizzu, the chief executive officer of NHOA Energy, said “NHOA Energy’s proprietary energy management system will optimise the generation and consumption profile of the industrial microgrid, while also supporting the regional grid towards its 100% green energy objective, taking the energy transition in the area one step forward in total accordance with NHOA Group’s and TCC’s shared mission of fostering a positive change for the future of our planet.”