EE.UU.: Argos compró activos por US$ 720 millones en EE. UU.

Se trata de fábricas de la compañía estadounidense Vulcan Materials en el estado de la Florida.

Los activos consisten en una planta de cemento de 1,6 millones de toneladas de capacidad por año, dos moliendas de clínker de 1,9 millones de toneladas, 69 plantas de concreto con 372 camiones mezcladores, 13 plantas de producción de bloques de concreto y dos instalaciones portuarias.

Con esta operación, Argos se convierte en uno de los productores de cemento más importantes del estado de la Florida y en el sureste de EE. UU.

También duplica la capacidad de producción de cemento en EE. UU., la cual alcanzará 6,6 millones de toneladas, y cerca de 13,1 millones de metros cúbicos de concreto al año.

La norteamericana está vendiendo las unidades de concreto y cemento para concentrarse en las centrales, que son, respectivamente, las de agregados y las de asfalto.

En el 2012, Vulcan Materials vendió 2.599 millones de dólares en total y esas unidades representaron, respectivamente, el 66,5 y 14,6 por ciento del total de ingresos.

Mientras que las plantas de concreto y la de cemento representaron, respectivamente 15,6 y 3,2 por ciento de las ventas de la estadounidense en el 2012.

Lo anterior significa también, respectivamente, 406,4 millones de dólares y 84,6 millones de dólares.

Las operaciones actuales de concreto y cemento de Vulcan Materials fueron adquiridas por esta empresa en el 2007 cuando compró la compañía Florida Rock Industries, por 4.000 millones de dólares.

MULTILATINA CEMENTO Y CONCRETO

En los 9 primeros meses del 2013, los ingresos de Argos por la operación de sus plantas en EE. UU. sumaron 560 millones de dólares, lo que representó el 28,4 por ciento de los totales, los cuales sumaron 1.972 millones de dólares.

Lo anterior representó la colocación en el país norteamericano de 1,3 millones de toneladas de cemento y 4,1 millones de metros cúbicos de concreto.

En el negocio del cemento, Argos es líder en Colombia, el quinto productor más grande en América Latina y segundo en el sureste de Estados Unidos.

La empresa tiene 9 plantas en Colombia y dos en Estados Unidos; siete moliendas de clínker en nuestro país, Estados Unidos, Haití, Panamá, República Dominicana y Surinam.

Sin embargo, tras la nueva operación en EE. U.U. Argos quedaría con una capacidad instalada total, en todas las geografías dondetiene presencia, de 20 millones de toneladas de cemento y 17 millones de metros cúbicos de concreto al año.

Lo anterior en razón a que aún faltan los avales de las autoridades regulatorias para poder comprar los activos de Vulcan Materials.

Igualmente, Argos tiene cinco terminales de recepción y empaque en Antigua, Curazao, Dominica, San Martín y Santo Tomás.

La capacidad instalada total de la empresa es de 17 millones de toneladas de cemento al año y unas 10 plantas.

En el negocio del concreto, Argos es líder en Colombia y tercer productor más grande en Estados Unidos. Cuenta con 307 plantas ubicadas en Colombia, Estados Unidos, Haití y Panamá, República Dominicana, Surinam y Honduras.

La capacidad instalada total actual es de 14 millones de metros cúbicos de concreto al año

INDIA: Slowdown likely to hit cement sector next fiscal

Cement demand is likely to remain sluggish next fiscal with around 5—6 per cent growth impacted by slowdown in construction and infrastructure sectors, India Ratings and Services said in a report today.

India’s cement sector had clocked 5.6 per cent growth in 2012—13 and the projected growth of 5—6 per cent next fiscal would be supported by an expected increase in demand from the rural sector and Tier—II and Tier—III cities.

There could also be some uptick in demand from the second half, it said adding, election results would impact overall growth in construction activities.

The rating agency has, however, maintained its “stable to negative” outlook for the sector for the next fiscal.

The slowdown in construction and allied activities would led to shrink the capacity utilisation of the cement companies further between 70 per cent and 75 per cent in FY’14 and FY’15 compared to 76 per cent recorded in the previous fiscal.

Capacity utilisation would be the highest in the Eastern region at 80—85 per cent followed by Western region at 70—80 per cent and would be the lowest in Southern India at 56—58 per cent.

As such overall capacity addition is likely to moderate as incremental demand will be lower than incremental supply.

Capacity additions would grow at a CAGR of six per cent till FY’16 while demand may pick up by over 4 per cent in the same period. Southern India will continue to face a demand—supply imbalance.

URUGUAY: Nueva Palmira port cargo rises 51.5% in 2013

Uruguay's Nueva Palmira port boosted cargo handling by 51.5% to 3.75 million tonnes last year thanks to national grain production, mainly soy, and products from the basin of the Paraguay-Parana waterway, the government's press office said.

The port also benefited from portland cement, clinker, steel products as well as exports of fertilizer to Paraguay, according to port manager Flavio Vaccarezza.

Additionally, national cabotage is increasing with large volumes of grain transported between the ports of Paysandu and Nueva Palmira, he noted.

In 2014, Nueva Palmira expects to further increase its activities by handling European cargo for Bolivia, which is developing projects linked to hydrocarbons and electricity, Uruguayan daily El Pais said.

AFRICA: PPC banks on new African projects to boost product sales

The release of major infrastructural projects in South Africa, Botswana and Zimbabwe would provide a key driver for demand for cement products in the region, listed cement and lime producer PPC said yesterday.

In a trading update for the quarter to December last year, PPC chairman Bheki Sibiya said the South African trading environment would remain tough and highly competitive but PPC believed its various response strategies had positioned the company well.

Sibiya said PPC’s normalised earnings for the first half of its financial year were anticipated to reflect a year-on-year improvement.

He said the operating environment in South Africa remained tough with low single-digit cement volume growth achieved in the first quarter, along with price increases.

Sibiya added that both the inland and coastal regions recorded positive growth while growth in cement volumes was also achieved in Zimbabwe, with exports from that country showing “a pleasing trend”.

Volumes in Botswana and Mozambique continued to be under pressure due to weak demand and intense competitor activity but some increases in selling prices were still achieved in these territories.

Sibiya said the performance in the lime division was beginning to show a positive trend while the South African aggregates division had achieved pleasing volume growth due to increased off-take in road, retail and residential projects.

Sibiya added that PPC’s expansion strategy remained well on track and construction of its new operation in Rwanda was progressing well, with commissioning of the plant anticipated at the end of this year.

Construction work had now also commenced at PPC’s sites in Ethiopia and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and additional opportunities were currently being pursued.

PPC said last year that it aimed to have three new plants under construction by the end of the first quarter of this year in the DRC, Ethiopia and Zimbabwe, while its plant in Rwanda was scheduled to come on stream in September.

The company said it had also earmarked a fifth project in an as yet undisclosed country, with its capital expenditure budget for this financial year totalling about R2.7 billion.

PPC has expanded into the rest of Africa with the target of generating 40 percent of its revenue from outside South Africa by 2017.

The move has been prompted by increased competition in the South African cement market and lower margins at home.

The increased competition follows JSE-listed Sephaku Holdings associate company Sephaku Cement earlier this month commencing with cement production at its Delmas milling plant, where output is expected to be ramped up to 1.4 million tons a year by the middle of this year.

Sephaku Cement has another major project, Aganang, an integrated plant located in Lichtenburg in North West, where production is targeted to commence by the second quarter of this year.

About R3.3bn has been invested in establishing Sephaku Cement’s new cement plants, which once fully operational will have a total annual capacity of 2.2 million tons.

In December PPC acquired a 69.3 percent stake in Safika Cement Holdings for R377 million, which followed its acquisition in 2012 of an initial 25 percent shareholding in Gauteng readymix and fly-ash supplier Pronto Holdings, with the remaining shareholding bought on a phased basis over a two-year period.

PPC shares fell 2.70 percent to close at R29.51 yesterday.

CAMEROON: Addoha Group cement factory to be operational in February 2014

According to authorised sources, the last bagging tests conducted at the factory by the Cameroonian subsidiary of Addoha, were concluded in January 2014 in the Bonabéri industrial zone in Douala.

Bolstered by the successful results which led to even the production of the first bag on November 27, 2013, Cimaf Cameroun heads have no doubt: production will officially start next February.

The confidence shown by the heads of the Moroccan construction company, Addoha’s Cameroonian subsidiary, has virtually frozen the product’s price in Cameroon.

According to sources, the price will be 4,500 Fcfa per unit – the same price used by Cimenteries du Cameroun (Cimencam), a Lafarge Group subsidiary, which will enjoy its current monopoly for only a few more weeks. During this time, Cimaf will fine-tune its turbines before the official production launch.

Its cornerstone laid on May 19, 2014 by Cameroonian Prime Minister, Philemon Yang, Cimaf Cameroun has a production capacity of 500,000 to 1 million tonnes per annum. With this 20 billion FCfa (30 million euro) investment, Cimaf will create around 200 direct jobs

BELGIUM: Market conditions force Heidelberg's closure of Belgian cement plant

HeidelbergCement subsidiary CBR has announced its intention to close a clinker and white cement plant in Harmignies, Belgium, after attempts to make it profitable failed.

It puts the closure down to difficulties in keeping production costs down and a fall in the market for white cement, coupled with increasd competition. The closure means 97 job losses.

The plant suffers from a number of handicaps, said the company. Production costs are too high and the location is poor, away from rail and water-based transport. Capacity is low and the wet process used is more expensive than the dry process used by competitors.

Various measures have been attempted to improve profitability, including significant investments to reduce production costs but the company has concluded that the plant is no longer competitive and that no significant improvement can be expected.

MEXICO: Morgan Stanley Maintains on Cemex

In a report published Wednesday, Morgan Stanley analyst Nikolaj Lippmann maintained Overweight on Cemex SAB de CV (NYSE: CX [FREE Stock Trend Analysis]), raising its price target to $14.00 from $13.00.

According to the report, last year suggested the need for consolidation in Mexico, and that could be a structural game changer, but even without consolidation, 2015-2017 looks increasingly bullish.

“Consolidation in Mexico's cement industry came into focus after the Cemex-Holcim asset swap last year,” the report noted. “Further consolidation could be a game-changer with regard to the long-term profitability of the market. We include consolidation in Mexico in our RR and show a 750BP difference in Mexico EBITDA margin between bull and bear. We also include maps of Mexico's capacity by state, region and we map the country's construction spending.”

But even without consolidation supply looks more disciplined -Making small changes to estimates -Demand and cement pricing are turning the corner in Mexico

CX closed Tuesday at $12.85 with shares trading up at 2.72 percent.

NIGERIA: Dangote Cement keen to expand to South America

Africa’s largest cement company, Dangote Cement is keen on expanding its business into the South American market and has agreed a preliminary joint venture with an undisclosed firm.

The company’s CEO Devakumar Edwin said the cement producer has earmarked 3 countries for entry, saying “the countries we’re looking at have huge natural resources and growth”. He however declined to name the countries.

Despite significantly large operators such as Colombian manufacturer Argos – the largest in country – backed with financial and market capabilities to outmuscle or crush new entry, Dangote is fairly confident it can carve a niche for itself.

“There are many large players in that region” that “may easily try to shut down entry to new players, but there’s still large scope of doing business,” said Edwin in interview with Business Day.

South America’s cement market offers great prospects for a potential entry. Cement industry growth over the last few years have staggered around 6-7% with construction market booming in several countries including Peru, which expanded by 18% in 2013, while Chile steadied at 5.2%.

This growth has been backed by fledging real estate sector across the region and an economic growth that should provide adequate demand for construction materials for an new entrant.

Dangote’s cement is Nigeria’s largest cement manufacturer and the largest listed company on the stock exchange with market cap of $15 billion and annual revenue reaching $1.8 billion. Despite this feat, it is keen to shore up its international business in a bid to become a significant global player in the construction industry.

Founded by Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, the cement giant recently announced a $16 billion investment plan to drive its global expansion programme.

Part of that included more than $2.5 billion in building manufacturing plants and import terminals across Africa.

It also made strides in expanding into Asia, with $800 million reserved for a cement plant in Nepal.

MAURITIUS: 800 tonnes de ciment bientôt embarquées pour Diego Garcia

Après l’acheminement de plus de 20 000 tonnes de roches vers l’archipel des Chagos,c’est maintenant au tour du ciment. 800 tonnes devraient être embarquées sous peu à bord de barges. Avec une telle quantité de matériaux, le projet des militaires américains devrait être d’envergure.

Que peuvent bien construire les Américains sur la base de Diego Garcia ? Après l’acheminement de plus de 20 000 tonnes de roches vers l’archipel des Chagos, l’express a appris que 800 tonnes de ciment suivront bientôt le même chemin. Ce ciment serait actuellement en train d’être entreposé et devrait être embarqué sous peu à bord de barges.

Avec une telle quantité de matériaux, le projet des militaires américains devrait être d’envergure. À la presse, le ministre des Affaires étrangères, Arvin Boolell, affirme suivre la situation de près.

ZIMBABWE: US$50m cement plant for Masvingo

A CHINESE backed company, Zimbabwe Zhongxin, intends to build a cement plant in Masvingo at an estimated cost of US$50 million, a source familiar with the deal said.

The company initially wanted to construct the plant in Chimanimani but had to relocate to Masvingo where “substantial” limestone deposits were found.

Zhongxin Coking is the controlling shareholder in Zim Zhongxin with 70 percent shareholding while a local consortium, Qualisave Minerals Investments owns a 30 percent stake.

The source said the project may commence during the first half of the year once the company obtained all regulatory permits. The project has potential to create 400 jobs.

In terms of complying with the indigenisation and empowerment laws, the source said “the foreign partner will gradually release some of the shares to the locals until they are compliant”.

“The Chinese are bringing in capital of close to US$49,5 million and the contribution from the locals is quite insignificant for them to have a controlling interest,” said the source.

“As such, negotiations are ongoing with the relevant authorities. The proposal is that the Chinese investors will gradually release some of the shares to the local partners in coming years.”

Zimbabwe’s cement market is looking bright with demand expected to increase thanks to various infrastructural projects on the cards and some already underway. With an infrastructure backlog of US$14 billion, the cement demand is expected to significantly rise in the medium to long term.

Under Zimbabwe’s new economic blueprint, Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation, Government has come up with an infrastructure cluster focused on the rehabilitation of infrastructural assets and the recovery of utility services.

These services relate to water and sanitation infrastructure, public amenities, information communication technology, energy and power supply, transport (road, rail, marine and air).

Local cement companies are also poised to benefit from the growing demand in residential and non-residential construction. Pretoria Portland Cement, Zimbabwe’s largest company said it will start constructing a US$200 million cement plant in the north-eastern part of the country this year.

The construction, expected to begin during the second or third quarter of this year, will be completed at the end of 2016, Mr Gavin Stephens, PPC Zimbabwe’s director of business development told this paper in November last year.

The combined cement output would be 1,2 million tonnes per annum, adding about 250 direct jobs.

While analysts have pointed out that the primary risk to the construction sector was the shortage of international finance and foreign direct investments, PPC Zimbabwe chairman Mr Bhekokuhle Sibiya said last year prospects in Zimbabwe were bright.

“With elections in Zimbabwe concluded, we expect continued growth in cement demand.

“The market has been dominated by retail clients and we look forward to increased infrastructure investment,” said Mr Sibiya.