Carlos Eduardo Almeida, commercial director and commercial relations director of cement manufacturer Holcim Brasil announced that plans to build a new factory, which the company was to announce at the end of this year, are temporarily suspended. ’We were studying the possibility of expanding our plant in Minas Gerais and building a new unit. We are talking about R$1.6bn (US$740m). But you have to be careful,’ he said.
Last year, Holcim announced an expansion plan to spend almost R$2bn (US$925m) in the country through to 2012. The first phase, which foresaw investing R$430m (US$199m) in modernising the five plants it has, already in underway since January. This part, according to Almeida, will not be interrupted and should be concluded by early next year, on time and with a 20% increase in productivity from the beginning. Installed capacity should rise from 4.5Mta to 5.2Mta.
