Cement News tagged: International
Difficult start to 2024 for US cement market
Total shipments of Portland and blended cement, including imports, in the US and Puerto Rico amounted to 5.886Mt in the first month of 2024, down 14.3 per cent YoY from the 6.872Mt recorded in January 2023, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS). Of the total blended volume reported, 2.745Mt, or 98 per cent, was estimated to be Portland limestone cement. The key destination for Por...
Indian cement demand to grow by 6-7% in FY24-25
Indian cement volume growth recovered to a healthy 7-8 per cent YoY in the last quarter (1 January 2024-31 March 2024) of FY23-24, on aggressive volume push, after growing ~15 per cent YoY in the first half of the year and logging a moderate slowdown in the third quarter due to regional hindrances, according to CRISIL MI&A Research. This ensured a third straight year of healthy demand growth ...
Adbri is granted US$32.5m for upgrade at Birkenhead plant
The Adelaide-based cement manufacturer, Adbri , has been granted US$32.5m by the Australian federal government. The grant will finance a new front-end engineering and design (FEED) study at the company’s Birkenhead cement plant. The aim of the study is to assess the possible addition of a new vertical roller mill and post-production blending system math the site. The proposed upgrade ...
Outlook improving for Indonesia cement demand, clinker exports robust
Cement sales in Indonesia amounted to 65.501Mt in 2023. This is an increase of 3.4 per cent YoY compared to the 63.346Mt reported in 2022. Regional sales were a mixed bag, with over a third recording sale contractions. Java, the country’s largest market, saw sales rise a modest 0.3 per cent YoY to 33.56Mt, while sales in the capital Jakarta rose 5.5 per cent YoY to 2.714Mt. Sales volumes we...
Swiss cement market contracts 8% in 1Q24
Cement demand in Switzerland, including Liechtenstein, declined eight per cent to 786,433.2t in the first quarter of 2024 when compared with 855,143.7t in the 1Q23, according to the Swiss cement association, cemsuisse. While cement sales continue to fall due to uncertainty in terms of interest rates, energy prices and supply chains, the decline is slowing. Planned projects in civil engineering...
Cement Australia to receive AUD52.9m in government funding
Cement Australia ’s kiln facility in Railton, Tasmania, is due to receive AUD52.9m (US$34.4m) in funding from the country’s federal government. The kiln upgrade will allow the Railton plant to begin using biomass instead of coal, when it produces clinker and cement, as part of a federal initiative to help reduce companies’ carbon emissions. Once operational, the kiln upgrade in Railto...
Closure of The Board of Cement & Concrete SA
The Board of Cement & Concrete SA (CCSA) has closed its non-profit organisation and been de-registered from the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC) in line with its Memorandum of Incorporation (MOI). Since its initial establishment 86 years ago (in 1938) as the Concrete Association of South Africa, this industry body has transitioned and gone through numerous name changes ...
Gloomy outlook for Germany's cement industry
The 2024 outlook for the German cement market is gloomy. According to the German Building Materials Association, Bundesverband Baustoffe, production of building materials contracted 15.3 per cent YoY in the first two months of 2024, adding to the 16.7 per cent YoY contraction recorded in 2023. The latest cement consumption figures from German cement association, VDZ, show a 18.9 per cent YoY c...
Moroccan cement deliveries fall 14% in March
Cement deliveries in Morocco dropped 14 per cent YoY to 1,028,481t in March 2024, according to the country's cement association, APC. Sales by its members – Asment Témara , Ciments de l’Atlas , Ciments du Maroc , LafargeHolcim Maroc and Novacim – were down from 1,195,305t in March 2023. Deliveries to the retail sector fell 20.7 per cent to 575,731t in March 2024 from 725,926t in March...
Mexico's demand expected to cool down
Cement demand in Mexico is forecast to cool down with the country's major cement producing expecting modest growth in 2024 following the completion of some of the government's key infrastructure projects and a reduction in the infrastructure budget. As a result, domestic cement producers are looking to Europe for alternative sales or prepare for expansion projects in Mexico. In 2023 construc...
Cement consumption in Ukraine increased 17% in 2023
Cement consumption in Ukraine rose by 17 per cent last year, up 5.4Mt compared to 2022, says Pablo Kachur, head of the country's cement association, Ukrcement Association. “A similar jump is not predicted this year, but we will probably get 6Mt of domestic cement consumption,” said the representative. Ukraine’s peak pre-war consumption was 10.6Mt (2021), according to The Global Cement R...
Pakistan producers to add expiry dates to cement bags
The Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) has issued a Policy Note under Section 29 of the Competition Act, 2010 to the Ministry of Science and Technology and Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority (PSQCA). The Policy Note recommends an amendment to the Pakistan Standard Specification for all five types of cement and make it mandatory for cement manufacturers to disclose the ‘man...
Eureka Shipping announces new energy-efficient cement carrier
Eureka Shipping Ltd, a leading transporter for the cement industry, has announced that it will construct a new cutting-edge vessel for operation in the Great Lakes. The company, jointly owned by SMT Shipping and The CSL Group, plans to replace two of its older vessels with this state-of-the-art mechanical/pneumatic cement carrier. The new vessel will have a 12,500dwt capacity, equal to the two...
Iranian cement exports rise 12% in under two years
The head of Iran’s Cement Industry Producers Association, Ali-Akbar Alvandian, said on Saturday that the country had exported 10.5Mt of cement in the first nine months of the Iranian calendar year 1402 (21 March-21 December 2023). He added, that in the previous year, 13Mt of cement had been exported. Alvandian noted that Iran produces about 90Mta, 60Mta of which is consumed domestically. M...
Kerala cement plants handle 48,000t of non-recyclable waste
Cement plants located in India's southern state of Kerala received around 48,000t of non-recyclable waste generated within the state in 2023. The waste was used to provide refuse-derived energy for the cement facilities, according to The Hindu. The waste reportedly amounted to just under 30,000t generated by the government sector, and just over 18,000t from the private sector. According to ...
VNCA calls for government intervention in Vietnam cement industry
The Vietnam National Cement Association (VNCA) has reported that the country’s cement sector is in crisis, as a number of major players are at risk of bankruptcy or foreign acquisition, due to low production and consumption levels. Despite the country’s 61 cement production facilities having a capacity of approximately 117Mta, total consumption was only 87.8Mt in 2023, including a domestic ...