Global Cement News

US: Bunting has appointed Robert Bunting as its president and chief executive officer. He succeeds his father, Bob Bunting, in the role. Bunting Senior has now become chair of the company.

Robert Bunting joined Bunting’s Elk Grove Village magnet sales team in 2007. He later became the company’s Global Product Manager for Metal Detection in 2014 and then General Manager of Bunting Elk Grove Village in 2016. He previously sat on the business intelligence committee for PMMI (The Association for Packaging and Processing) and is the marketing director of the Process Equipment Manufacturers' Association (PEMA) at present. He holds a degree in business management at Rockhurst University in Kansas City, Missouri and previously worked for Sun Life Financial.

Bunting is a designer and manufacturer of magnetic separators, metal detectors, magnets, magnetic assemblies and magnetising equipment. The company has its headquarters in Newton, Kansas. It was originally founded in 1959 in Chicago, Illinois by Walter F Bunting, the grandfather of Robert Bunting.

China: China Resources Cement’s turnover fell by 21.5% year-on-year to US$3.08bn in the first nine months of 2022 from US$3.93bn in the same period in 2021. Its profit dropped by 65% to US$234m from US$677m. Cement and concrete sales volumes decreased by 17% to 52.5Mt and 26% to 8.04Mm³, although clinker sales volumes grew slightly. Sales by geographical region fell in all provinces, with the exception of Hunan. The company blamed falling profits on production costs and falling sales.

Germany: Ireland-based CRH has agreed to sell its subsidiaries Opterra Zement and Opterra Beton to Thomas Gruppe. Thomas Gruppe expects to complete its acquisition of the businesses later in 2022. Opterra Zement owns the 1.4Mt/yr Karsdorf, Saxony-Anhalt, cement plant and 0.5Mt/yr Sötenich, North Rhine-Westphalia, grinding plant, the latter of which is closed. Opterra Beton operates the Neufahrn, Bavaria, ready-mix concrete batching plant.

Thomas Gruppe said "For years, we have been pursuing a steady and long-term growth course in the field of cement and precast and ready-mix concrete. In the cement segment, our competitive position improved significantly with the purchase of the Erwitte (North Rhine-Westphalia) plant in 2017. Together with the grinding plant in Dorndorf (Thuringia), we have achieved a significantly larger area coverage in Germany, and also in the Netherlands, and benefit from synergy effects." It continued "We would like to continue on this growth course. An opportunity like the one to take over the cement plant in Karsdorf does not come often. The Karsdorf plant, with its gigantic limestone deposits, its market position of well over 1Mt/yr of cement and its experienced team, enables us better to supply our customers, and to leverage improvement potential. In addition, Karsdorf is of sufficient size for us to install CO₂ separation technology in its production of clinker for the Dorndorf grinding plant." Thomas Gruppe concluded "We are convinced that cement will become a clean building material and believe in its future."

China: Data from the National Bureau of Statistics of China shows that cement output fell by 12% year-on-year to 1.56Bnt in the first nine months of 2022 from 1.78Bnt in the same period in 2021. However, output started to pick up on a monthly basis in September 2022, with a year-on-year increase of 1% to 207Mt. Despite national increases in infrastructure development, the China Cement Association revealed that real estate development investment decreased by 8% to US$1.44tn in the first nine months of 2022.

Japan: Taiheiyo Cement has agreed to buy the cement business of chemicals company Denka for an undisclosed sum. Denka operates an integrated plant in Itoigawa City, Niigata Prefecture where Taiheiyo Cement’s subsidiary Myojo Cement also operates a plant. The three companies have been working on a joint-development plant for local limestone resources since 2018. However, Denka has decided to leave the cement market due to poor local demand and the necessity of upgrades at its plant from 2025 onwards.

From April 2023 cement sold from Denka’s Omi plant will carry the Taiheiyo Cement brand name. Taiheiyo Cement and Myojo Cement have also agreed to continue supplying Denka’s other businesses, such as carbide production, with limestone from 2025. Denka will send by-products and other waste streams to the cement producer. Finally, Taiheiyo Cement, Myojo Cement and Denka will carry on developing the local limestone resources near to Itoigawa City.