Global Cement News

India: Dalmia Bharat Group has appointed Rajiv Bansal as a Senior Executive Director in the managing director’s office. The company said that he would work with Puneet Dalmia, managing director, and Mahendra Singhi, managing director and chief executive officer (CEO), to ‘strengthen our existing goals and strategies and in formulating and implementing newer initiatives that align with the long term goals and vision of the company.’

Bansal joins Dalmia Bharat Group from DXC Technology, an IT services company, where he served as the chief financial officer (CFO) for America. Prior to DXC, he was the CFO of Ola (ANI Technologies), an India-based mobility platform and ride-hailing companies. Before joining Ola, he was the Global CFO of Infosys, an India-based IT services company. He holds over 26 years of experience across various industries including power generation, telecoms, IT services and internet start-ups. Bansal holds a Bachelor of Commerce from Calcutta University and is a chartered accountant and a cost accountant.

Italy: Buzzi Unicem’s net sales fell slightly to Euro2.41bn in the first nine months of 2020 from Euro2.42bn in the same period in 2019. Its cement sales volumes declined by 1.8% to 21.7Mt from 22.1Mt. The group said that sales volumes recovered during the third quarter of 2020 due to a rebound of demand in Italy, stability in Germany and a ‘trend reversal’ in Russia. Net sales also increased in the US during the third quarter.

Thailand: SCG’s revenue from its cement-building materials business fell by 6% year-on-year to US$4.33bn in the first nine months of 2020. The group attributed this to poor demand resulting from coronavirus-related lockdowns. However, its earnings before interest, taxation, deprecation and amortisation (EBITDA) for the division rose by 9% to US$590m due to cost savings and lower energy prices. Overall, the group reported a similar picture with sales down but earnings up. National cement sales volumes rose slightly in the third quarter of 2020.

Turkey: Çimsa’s net sales grew by 27% year-on-year to Euro175m in the first nine months of 2020. Its operating profit more than doubled to Euro37.1m. Local sales grew faster than export sales in the reporting period but export revenue remains greater than domestic revenue. Chief executive officer (CEO) Umut Zenar reflected this when he praised the company’s strong export performance despite the challenges posed by coronavirus.

Philippines: Japan-based Taiheiyo Cement has approved plans for the installation of a new 3.0Mt/yr production line at its integrated San Fernando cement plant in Cebu. The project at subsidiary Taiheiyo Cement Philippines (TCPI) will cost around US$280m.

The company said that it decided to build the upgrade in response to four-year demand growth of 30% to 32Mt/yr in 2019 from 24Mt/yr in 2015, in line with economic growth in the Philippines. It said, “Despite demand shrinking in 2020 due to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, it is expected to rise again with strong gross domestic product (GDP) recovery, estimated to be 5% in 2021, and the massive infrastructure investment programme ‘Build Build Build’.”

The company added, “The new line will offer significant advantages in terms of energy efficiency and will reduce CO₂ emissions from energy use in clinker production by more than 10% compared with the efficiency of the current line. Additionally, it is expected that the higher quality clinker produced with the new line will enable a reduction in the clinker factor and thereby realise a further CO₂ reduction per tonne of cement produced.” The line has the potential for expansion to 5.0Mt/yr production capacity.