Cemex

Cemex made its annual investor presentation in early June. As part of its agreement with the banks, acquisition expenditure will be limited to US$100m per annum. This year, and probably also in 2011, this will all be invested in the Blue Rock partnership, whose projects will be managed by Cemex. The aim is to invest the Blue Rock funds in cement markets where high volume growth can be expected. The first such project is the new 1Mta cement plant near Lima, to be commissioned in early 2013.

Cemex Hrvatska in Croatia expects the unfavourable trends seen in many of its traditional main markets to continue in 2010. Egypt has emerged as a new export market, having taken 0.1m tonnes of clinker last year and is now expected to take in excess of 0.2m tonnes of cement during 2010.

This year, Cemex expects its volumes to grow by about 3% in cement and by 1% in aggregates, while the ready-mixed concrete volume is forecast to decline slightly.