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OneStone Consulting moves to Bulgaria 02 May 2019
Bulgaria: OneStone Consulting has moved its headquarters to Varna. The business-to-business consultancy company was previously based in Barcelona in Spain.
When China sneezes...
Written by David Perilli, Global Cement
01 May 2019
RHI Magnesita has taken the step this week of raising its prices globally by 5% for its products for its industrial and steel divisions. It has applied the increase to both its basic (magnesia and dolomite based) and non-basic products, varying in a range of 3% to 20%. It has blamed this on a global scarcity of raw materials caused mostly by Chinese environmental regulations on mining and processing. It goes on to attribute the issue to increased export taxes, more restrictive allocation of explosives and the nationalisation or controlled consolidation of mining operations in China. All of this has, “...structurally altered the production, pricing and dynamics for industrial minerals.”
Graph 1: Revenue in 2018 from industrial divisions at selected refractory producers. Source: Company reports.
Other major refractory producers, including Imerys and Vesuvius, reported similar mounting raw material costs in 2018. They also implemented price changes to maintain income and/or sales growth. As can partly be seen in Graph 1 some of the major refractory producers reported mixed fortunes in 2018 for their divisions that produce products for the cement industry.
RHI Magnesita noted that 2018 was a year of steady refractory market growth and relative stability for cement and lime from a global market perspective, with some significant variances on a regional basis. Imery’s Energy Solutions & Specialties division suffered due to flat markets. However, its High Resistance Materials division (not shown in Graph 1) benefited from the ongoing integration of Kerneos into the group. The group restructured its businesses at the end of 2018 creating a High Temperature Materials & Solution segment that brings together its various refractory concerns. Vesuvius' Steel Advanced Refractories division, which include monolithic products, reported particular growth in the Americas in 2018. Although it noted some market share loss in North Asia and in certain European countries, the latter due in price increases.
Refractories aren’t the only material or commodity used by the cement industry that has been distorted by Chinese domestic policy. Regulations on imports of waste streams including plastics started in 2017 leading to European and US suppliers struggling to find alternate markets. One implications of this appears to have been waste firms focusing on separating plastic into high and low calorific fractions to fight the downward price trends of a market glut. The outcomes are different but the sheer size and variety of China’s economy is increasingly affecting the cement industry in new and different ways.
RHI Magnesita’s travails in China and the debacle of waste imports bring to mind the quote by the 19th century Austrian diplomat Klemens von Metternic, ‘When Paris sneezes, Europe catches a cold.’ Metternic was referring to Napoleonic-era France and its aftermath. The modern version may have been used to reference the US but maybe it should be instead, ‘When China sneezes, the world catches a cold.’ Gesundheit.
Mohammed Al-Subaie appointed chairman of Eastern Province Cement
Written by Global Cement staff
01 May 2019
Saudi Arabia: Mohammed Al-Subaie has been appointed as the chairman of Eastern Province Cement. He succeeds Abdulmohsen Al-Ruwaished, who has resigned. Ibrahim Al Ruwais has also been appointed as the company’s vice-chairman.
Gary Moore appointed Director of Global Business Development at Untha
Written by Global Cement staff
01 May 2019
UK: Austria’s Untha has appointed Gary Moore as its Director of Global Business Development. Moore is currently the Sales Director of Untha UK, a position he will retain. His new global position will see him focus on improving the growth of Untha America.
India: Cement production grew by 10% year-on-year to 91.5Mt in the first quarter of 2019 from 81.9Mt in the same period in 2018. Data from the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) at the Ministry of Commerce & Industry shows that production sped up in March 2019.