Calucem plans a US$35m US calcium aluminate cement plant

Specialty cement manufacturer Calucem will enter the US market by developing a US$35m manufacturing facility in eastern New Orleans. Calucem (Cementos Molins group) is the world’s second-largest producer of calcium aluminate cement, a high-performance product applied in a variety of commercial and industrial uses. 

The project will create 70 direct jobs and the Louisiana Economic Development estimates the project also will result in 158 indirect jobs, for a total of 228 new jobs for Louisiana’s southeast region.

“In choosing Louisiana, Calucem recognises our unrivalled logistical advantages for connecting manufacturers to both domestic and foreign markets,” Louisiana's Governor, John Bel Edwards, said. “The site this international company has selected in New Orleans is emblematic of the state’s many strategic locations for the manufacture and worldwide shipment of products. We welcome this latest foreign direct investment in our diversified economy.” 

Calucem plans to develop the facility at a nine-acre site on the Industrial Canal. The facility is expected to begin operations in the third quarter of 2023.  

“Calucem is taking on a new investment that will support our growth and diversification in the US and ensure that we continue to offer high-value products to our global customers,” Calucem President and CEO, Yuri Bouwhuis, said. “Our choice of Louisiana for our first all-new manufacturing project in the US is due to the availability of strategic raw materials such as limestone and natural gas, access to waterways and skilled labor, and the long history of using specialty cement products in the US.”

“This investment drives the company’s growth in innovative solutions for the construction sector and consolidates Cementos Molins as a world reference in the production of calcium aluminate cement,” Cementos Molins CEO, Julio Rodriguez, said.