Votorantim Cimentos, with a 40 per cent hold in the Brazilian cement market, is investing US$100m to expand its Sergipe-based plant which might be used to increase export sales into the US. The company is also detailing a project to invest US$100m to set up a cement plant at Tocantins state, its first in the Northern region, which is currently supplied by the units at Paraiba, Sergipe and Ceara. Marcelo Chamma, commercial manager, says the new plant will be fully integrated from mine to end-product and will run at 500,000tpa capacity.
The company runs five cement units in the US and two at Canada, in addition to 39 concrete units and nine distribution centers in the Great Lakes area. Votorantim Cimentos reportedly has a 50 per cent share in the Brazilian Northeastern cement market.
