Cement News tagged under: Spain

RSS feed

Spain: 1Q15 cement demand up 8.5% YoY

20 April 2015, Published under Cement News

Spanish cement consumption increased 8.5 per cent YoY to 2,553,962t in the first quarter of 2015. In March cement demand expanded by 12.3 per cent to 983,210t, according to cement association Oficemen. "Although these figures are well received and could indicate a change in trend, they are also insufficient. The growth in absolute numbers is small and keeps us on the threshold of lowest historical consumption, " Oficemen CEO, Aniceto Zaragoza, said. "Additionally, we are close to the reg...

Spain: Cementos Portland reports EUR29.5m loss

16 April 2015, Published under Cement News

FCC-owned Cementos Portland closed the first quarter of 2015 with a EUR29.5m loss, representing a 21.2 per cent higher figure when compared with 1Q14. The cement company attributes the fall to lower CO2 sales and new accounting rules relating to annual maintenance costs. Taking into account these effects, results improve by EUR7m. Revenues increased 9.4 per cent to EUR121.8m as the company maintained stable cement sales of 1.6Mt. However, concrete deliveries were down 43 per cent to 66M...

Spanish watchdog includes Lafarge and Holcim in cartel proceedings

15 April 2015, Published under Cement News

Spanish competition regulator CNMC has included Lafarge and Holcim in the proceedings for alleged cartel agreements brought up against a number of sector players at the end of 2014. Additionally, the CNMC has extended the proceedings to Materiales y Hormigones and Hormibusa. The move was based on information gathered during several inspections carried out in September for alleged exchange of information, price fixing and market division practices in the cement and concrete sector. The CN...

Spain: February consumption up 8%

19 March 2015, Published under Cement News

Spain’s demand for cement increased 8.3 per cent in February to 810,104t, when compared with February 2014, according to Oficemen, the country’s cement association. For the first two months of 2015, consumption advanced 6.6 per cent YoY to 1.6Mt. However, Oficemen CEO, Aniceto Zaragoza, highlights that more needs to be done to consolidate growth. "In continuing this trend, it will take more than a decade to just reach half of cement consumption recorded in 2007. We believe it is necess...

Spain: Portland Valderrivas reduces full-year loss

27 February 2015, Published under Cement News

Cementos Portland Valderrivas reported a EUR52.3m loss in 2014, around 27.3 per cent less than the previous year. The company attributed the improved result to the recovery of the Spanish economy which was reflected in a rise in public tenders, boosting in turn cement consumption. Cementos Portland Valderrivas reported a net operating profit of EUR35.9m, against a net operating loss of EUR24.2m the previous year. Revenues increased 0.4 per cent to EUR542.9m as the company divested from n...

Spain’s cement demand expands 5.2% in January

17 February 2015, Published under Cement News

Spain’s cement consumption rose by 5.2 per cent YoY to 769,838t in January 2015, according to Oficemen, the domestic cement association. The latest figures show an acceleration in growth, which at the end of 2014 stood at 0.4 per cent and noted the first annual increase since 2007. Spanish cement consumption has now registered five consecutive months of YoY increases since September 2014. Industry commentators believe the country has finally turned a corner as improved economic conditions...

Ciment Catalá: Catalan cement demand up 5% in 2015

10 February 2015, Published under Cement News

The Catalan cement association, Ciment Català, forecast Catalan cement consumption to rise by five per cent, the first increase  after seven years of continuous falls. Ciment Català’s president, Angel Cercós, said 2014 would prove to be another “bad year” for the sector as consumption is estimated to have fallen “between nine and 10 per cent” with demand barely reaching 1.31Mt – far below the 8Mt seen in the boom year of 2007.  However, he said that he “had the impression that we have tou...

Holcim

02 February 2015, Published under Cement News

Holcim completed the purchase of Cemex’ cement and aggregates assets in western Germany along with 59 batching plants in Germany and a further six in The Netherlands, while disposing of its activities in the Czech Republic and two of its Spanish cement works. Holcim is negotiating to sell most of its assets in France and all of its assets in Slovakia, Hungary, Serbia and Canada as well as certain assets in Brazil and the Trident cement works in Montana and certain terminals in the Great L...

Spanish watchdog carries out preliminary inspection on price fixing allegations

26 January 2015, Published under Cement News

Spanish competition regulator, CNMC, has carried out preliminary inspections over 20-21 January 2015 at the headquarters of various local concrete and cement producers on allegations of potential price fixing. According to the article published in Expansion, if found guilty of colluding to fix prices, the companies could face a fine accounting for up to 10 per cent of annual turnover.

Spain’s cement demand holds at just below 11Mt in 2014

21 January 2015, Published under Cement News

Cement consumption in Spain reached 10.79Mt in 2014, largely stable when compared to the 10.74Mt recorded in 2013, latest figures released by domestic cement association Oficemen show. The bottoming out from a steady decline experienced in recent years was helped by the 12.5 per cent expansion of the domestic market in December. Output in Spain’s cement factories increased 5.4 per cent YoY to 13.91Mt from 13.2Mt in 2013. However, in December, inventories fell as production decreased by ni...