Republic Cement outlines capacity development plans

Philippine-based Republic Cement group, a joint venture between CRH and local conglomerate Aboitiz Equity Ventures, has announced plans to invest an initial US$300m for its capacity development activities, the Manila Bulletin reports.

The first phase of these activities, targeted for completion by 2019, focuses on increasing the capacity of all its integrated plants in Luzon and Mindanao, both in terms of milling and clinker production, to increase cement capacity by 3Mta.  Moreover, iimproved process technology will drive increased clinker output from all of its four Luzon plants, the report stated. A second and concurrent phase of investment is anticipated in 2018 to develop significant new clinker capacity.

Republic Cement was formed by CRH and Aboitiz Equity following the divestment process undertaken by Lafarge and Holcim in the run-up to their 2015 merger. Republic owns five Luzon-based cement plants: four integrated units at Bulacan, Norzagaray, Teresa and Batangas, plus the Danao City grinding station on Cebu and associated limestone quarries. Following the recent expansion of its Teresa plant and Norzagaray cement plant, the company has a cement grinding capacity of 10.8Mta, making it the country's largest producer by capacity.