Taiheiyo Cement to acquire Denka cement business

Taiheiyo Cement Corp is reportedly acquiring the cement business of Denka Co Ltd in March 2023. Denka has decided to exit the cement sector due to rising production costs. The company operates one integrated cement plant with 2.69Mta of cement capacity in Omi, Niigata, Japan.

According to research company Nomura, Denka currently has a thee per cent share of the Japanese cement market, but demand there is falling. The company has already lowered its fiscal-year earnings guidance, forecasting a 29 per cent drop in net profit to JPY18.5bn (US$125.8m), compared to JPY29bn in the previous year, reports Market Watch. Nomura expects Denka’s cement business to suffer an operating loss of JPY5bn in the fiscal year ending March 2023 due to the sharp rise in coal prices.

Meanwhile, Dalian Onoda Cement, a subsidiary of Taiheiyo Cement, has announced plans to suspend cement production at its Dalian plant in Liaoning, China. Taiheiyo will shut the plant when its land lease expires in December 2022.