Cement News tagged under: United States

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United States: Vallejo blocks plans for new Ecocem plant

08 March 2017, Published under Cement News

An application for planning permission to build a new EUR45m (US$47.5m) grinding mill in Vallejo, California, has been refused by the local government, the Irish Times reports. Orecem Americas, a subsidiary of Ireland's Ecocem, had put forward the plans to build the plant, but residents had raised concerns that it would lead to an increase in the number of heavy trucks on local roads and would itself generate pollution. Vallejo's planning commission rejected the application by a six-to...

United States: St Marys Cement Detroit plant releases dust

08 March 2017, Published under Cement News

Residents living near St Marys Cement’s Detroit plant have complained of releases of dust by the plant, according to reports in the local press. News website Local 4 details the case of a family living opposite the plant whose car was coated in material that proved difficult to remove. A statement released by the plant, which is owned by a subsidiary of Votorantim Cimentos, said that: “the timing did correspond with a period of time when dust was released during the course of performin...

Cemex will ‘gladly’ supply materials for Trump border wall

02 March 2017, Published under Cement News

Cemex board Chairman, Rogelio Zambrano, has stated that Cemex would be happy to give estimates for the supply of cement to companies building the US-Mexico border wall, Reuters reports. Last Friday the US government said that it would release a request on or around 6 March, inviting companies to submit designs for the new wall. "If one of our clients asks us for a quote for materials, we have the responsibility to do it," a Cemex spokesman said but added that no such request had yet be...

USA: Summit cement profits rise 45% on back of higher volumes and prices

24 February 2017, Published under Cement News

In a trading statement for 2016, Summit Materials has announced that profits at its cement business rose by 45.1 per cent YoY, with volumes rising by 37 per cent and prices increasing by 7.5 per cent. Summit’s cement segment produced revenues of US$250m in 2016, with profits reaching US$127m in the same period. The business produced 2.14Mt of cement over the year, of which 0.6Mt was produced in the 4Q16. Summit’s profitability was improved by the rising price of cement. In 2015 its ave...

United States: Maine representatives call for vigilance over McInnis plant

16 February 2017, Published under Cement News

Congressional representatives for the state of Maine have written to US Trade Representative, Maria Pagan, calling on her to ensure that cement imports from McInnis’s new Port-Daniel-Gascons plant do not unfairly compete with domestic firms. In a letter to Ms Pagan, the four representatives state that McInnis’s project has received support from the government of Quebec which could be in violation of Canada’s international obligations under WTO rules. The letter specifically cites the c...

The world in 2016 and outlook for 2017

10 February 2017, Published under Cement News

This year will be a challenging year for the multinational cement companies, which are now faced by uneven economic performance in the emerging markets, combined with a new era of global political uncertainty that could further destabilise markets. On balance, however, global growth looks set to be anchored by positive trends in the major markets of China, India and the US, more than offsetting the poor performance elsewhere. The large cement majors have spent years diversifying their por...

LafargeHolcim's Olsen welcomes US infrastructure pledge

18 January 2017, Published under Cement News

Eric Olsen, CEO of LafargeHolcim, has welcomed President-elect Donald Trump’s commitment to increasing infrastructure spending in the United States, CNBC reports. "We've believed for many years the US needs a significant boost in infrastructure, if you look at the status of bridges, roads... core infrastructure in the US needs real investment and we're heartened to see that that's coming", Mr Olsen said. "Infrastructure payments typically pays off 2.5 times for what you do. You need to...

HeidelbergCement completes sale of US assets to Cementos Argos

01 December 2016, Published under Cement News

HeidelbergCement has completed the US$660m sale of the Martinsburg cement plant and eight terminals to Cementos Argos. HeidelbergCement had been required to sell the West Virginia plant to comply with regulators following the acquisition of Italcementi. It is expected that the company will use the proceeds of the sale to pay down some of debt it took on to finance the acquisition process. “With the disposal of the US assets we fulfil the obligation of the FTC and improve the net financ...

Cementos Argos hit by Colombia’s infrastructure slowdown

23 November 2016, Published under Cement News

In a trading update for the third quarter of 2016, Cementos Argos announced that its profits were down by 22.7 per cent YoY, with cement volumes falling by 7.4 per cent to 3.557Mt. Figures for the nine months to the end of September 2016 were more positive, with the company’s net income rising by 18.7 per cent YoY to COP393bn (US$125m). The third-quarter figures were negatively impacted by a slowdown in the company’s home market. Cement dispatches in Colombia fell by 22.1 per cent in 3...

USA: FTC approves HeidelbergCement divestiture

16 November 2016, Published under Cement News

The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has given its approval to an application from HeidelbergCement and Italcementi for the divestiture of the Essroc Martinsburg cement plant in West Virginia and eight cement terminals, local newspaper the Morning Call reports. The plant and terminals are to be acquired by Cementos Argos for US$660m. The divestiture was required by the FTC to preserve competition in the face of the merger of HeidelbergCement and Italcementi. The deal was originally ag...