Cimpor sees further Asian and Brazilian growth

Cimpor sees further Asian and Brazilian growth
15 April 2010


The publication of Cimpor’s annual report this week shows up some interesting information on the group in which the Brazilian groups Camargo Corrêa and Votorantim have stakes of 28.6% and 21.2% respectively, though with its voting arrangement with a Portuguese public sector bank, Votorantim has an influence over 30.8% of the capital. It shows that Cimpor earns its highest EBITDA margins in South Africa (46.1%), Morocco (44.4%) and Egypt (43.4%). 

In Portugal, the margin was 33.3% and it exceeded 28% in both Brazil and Tunisia. Elsewhere it was below 19% and a mere 5.9% in China. Cimpor’s market share was the highest in Mozambique at 77%, on the Cape Verde Islands at 72.1% and in Portugal at 55.8%.  Elsewhere it was below 13%, except for Tunisia at 23.4%. 

In China the market share was negligible and just 0.5% in India. China does, however, still boast the fourth largest cement capacity, behind Portugal, Brazil and Egypt. The downturn in cement demand on the Iberian peninsula enabled Cimpor to sell 850,000 emission allowances in Portugal and Spain.

For this year, Cimpor envisages market growth in Egypt, Brazil, Mozambique, China and India, while demand is expected to continue to decline in Portugal and Spain, though Portuguese exports may increase. Turkey could expect to see continued price weakness as higher energy costs and the substantial excess capacity weigh more heavily than the expected modest increase in demand.  This should allow an increased consolidated cement and clinker volume compared with the 27.4Mt achieved least year. 
Published under Cement News