Heidelberg Materials France to close two plants

Ciments Calcia, part of Heidelberg Materials France, is closing two of its plants as part of a restructuring programme. The two sites due to close are in Beffes (Cher) and Villiers-au-Bouin (Indre-et-Loire), both of which are scheduled to shut in October 2025. According to Heidelberg Materials France, the restructuring is the result of a significant decline in cement sales resulting from weak construction demand in the country. Sales volumes fell six per cent in 2023, after first declining in 2022, and there are negative growth prospects for 2024. The company is also planning to focus its portfolio increasingly on low-carbon products, including reduced clinker content, as part of its decarbonisation journey.

This latest announcement comes on the back of the company’s EUR400m investment to transform its sites in Airvault, Beaucaire, Bussac-Forêt and Couvrot. The investment plan is designed to modernise these sites to improve energy efficiency, replace fossil fuels with alternative fuels, particularly solid recovered fuels.

“The project to overhaul the company’s industrial system aims to safeguard the economic competitiveness of the group’s sector activity in France by preserving its capacity to invest in decarbonisation to enable it to continue producing in France,” said Heidelberg Materials France.