Global Cement News

Algeria: Groupe des Ciments d'Algérie (GICA) has completed the export of 41,000t of clinker to Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Algeria Press Service has reported that the company exported the clinker, produced at the Hadjar Soud (SCHS) cement plant, from the port of Annaba.

Chief executive officer (CEO) Youcef Merabet said, “Hadjar Soud cement plant, which operates two production lines totalling 0.9Mt/yr of cement production capacity, will promote its exports in 2021 especially as the demand for clinker will exceed 200,000t.”

Italy: Germany-based HeidelbergCement is reportedly considering a relocation of its subsidiary Italcementi’s research centre from Bergamo, Lombardy to Heidelberg in Baden Württemberg, Germany. The Italia Oggi newspaper has reported that Italcementi said, "The reorganisation of innovation and product research activities will be concentrated on a global level to better enhance the important skills acquired in Bergamo, making them available to all the countries that are part of the group. The process of relocation to Heidelberg of the research activities will be defined in detail during 2021 and at the same time all the possible solutions for the workers involved will be implemented through internal or external relocation offers."

The proposed move has attracted local resistance. Chamber of Deputies member for Lombardy Maurizio Martina said, “All the institutions, from the national government to the regional council, must promote an initiative to discuss with the owners the choice of moving the HeidelbergCement research centre to the German headquarters. The agreements signed in 2016 were different: we are talking about one of the most important research centres in the world, which brings quality employment and added value to Bergamo and Lombardy, and it is essential to do everything to ensure that it remains in our territory."

Zimbabwe: LafargeHolcim subsidiary Lafarge Cement Zimbabwe has said that cement demand has increased by 34% quarter-on-quarter in the third quarter of 2020 following the end of the national coronavirus lockdown. Business Weekly News has reported that the company said that cement demand in July 2020 was the highest in that month since July 2003 due to a 7% year-on-year sales rise.

Company chair Kumbirai Katsande said, “As business activity progressively continued to gain momentum into the third quarter of 2020, the demand for cement consequently outstripped supply, causing considerable supply backlog.” Katsande said that the shortage will ease as demand decreases “associated with rainfall” in the fourth quarter of 2020.

UK: The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has written to HeidelbergCement subsidiary Hanson UK to express concern and set out actions to prevent a recurrence of a breach of a market data order for “data disclosed which could have been a proxy for Individual Cement Market Data.” The CMA says that on 11 September 2020 Hanson made a payment in error to the Mineral Products Association (MPA) which involved three pieces of information: the payment; relating to MPA subscription fees, remittance advice relating to the payment; and an invoice following the MPA’s querying of the payment. In the view of the CMA each piece of information breached the Cement Market Data Order, because it contained ascertainable cement volume data information.

Hanson has explained that the breach arose due to administrative error.

Vietnam: The General Department of Vietnam Customs has reported total cement and clinker exports in the first ten months of 2020 of 31.6Mt, up by 19% year-on-year from 26.5Mt in the corresponding period of 2019. The Viet Nam News newspaper has reported that the value of exports rose by 7% to US$1.78bn. China bought 18Mt, worth US$611m, corresponding to 57% by volume and 34% by value of Vietnam’s cement and clinker exports.

In October 2020 Vietnam exported 3.58Mt of cement, down by 18% month-on-month from 4.37Mt in September 2020, at a total value of US$142m, down by 12% from US$160m.