Cement News tagged under: international
US, Mexico officials to meet on Mexican cement tariff23 September 2005, Published under Cement NewsTrade negotiators from Mexico and the U.S. will meet Friday in Mexico City to discuss lifting tariffs on Mexican cement in the U.S. as hurricane damage threatens to make tight supplies of building materials there even tighter. The recent havoc wreaked along the Gulf Coast by Hurricane Katrina alone is expected to boost U.S. demand for cement by more than one per cent for several consecutive years, while a massive Hurricane Rita could destroy more property as it bears down on Texas and we... |
Cement demand dampens23 September 2005, Published under Cement NewsDemand for cement has dampened slightly due to the lack of new infrastructure projects as well as the slight downturn in the construction industry, the Cement Manufacturers Association of the Philippines. Renato C. Sunico, group chairman, said demand for cement is down by about five per cent YoY. "Also, the capacity utilisation of cement firms is down slightly from last year’s 60 per cent to about 50 to 55 per cent," Mr. Sunico said. Among the priority infrastructure projects which the govern... |
Prizes awarded to sustainable construction projects in Asia Pacific23 September 2005, Published under Cement NewsZurich/Beijing, September 23, 2005. USD 220,000 in prize money was presented to the best submissions from Asia Pacific in the Holcim Awards competition for sustainable construction projects. The competition run by the Holcim Foundation for Sustainable Construction in collaboration with five of the world’s leading technical universities aims to promote sustainable approaches to the built environment. At the awards ceremony held in Beijing, China’s Vice Chairman of the Environment and Resou... |
Lafarge CEO sees further cement recovery, improved margins vs energy costs22 September 2005, Published under Cement NewsLafarge CEO Bernard Kasriel predicted the modest recovery in cement and granulate volumes seen in the second quarter will persist through the second half, and indicated that margins vis-a-vis energy costs are growing. In an interview in Saturday’s Le Journal des Finances, he reiterated recent guidance that the rise in full year 2005 operating profit will be near the low end of the targeted 6-8 per cent range. Kasriel said Lafarge has offset rising fuel and electricity costs by increa... |
Government repeats calls for abolition of US cement tariffs22 September 2005, Published under Cement NewsThe Mexican government will continue its calls for the US to abolish import tariffs on cement in spite of the US government announcement that sanctions will be reduced on cement maker Cemex. According to the anti-dumping regulations of the World Trade Organization (WTO), the measures imposed should expire after five years, so a mere reduction is insufficient, said Kenneth Smith, Mexico’s director general for international trade negotiations. "Under internal legal mechanisms in the US... |
CSN plans US$100m Rio de Janeiro cement plant22 September 2005, Published under Cement NewsBrazilian integrated steelmaker CSN is planning to build a cement plant in southeastern Rio de Janeiro state, local news agency Agência Estado reported. The initial investments would be US$30mn, but might reach USUS$100m as CSN plans further expansions. The official announcement will be made within the next two weeks, Agência Estado cited state secretary Anthony Garotinho as saying. The plant will be constructed in the hinterland city of Volta Redonda, next to the company’s steel pro... |
Old cement plant sold22 September 2005, Published under Cement NewsInternational cement giant Holcim Ltd.’s sale of its old cement plant in LaPorte, northwest of Fort Collins, and several hundred shares of water rights on Saturday brought the company more than US$16.8m. JP King Auction Co. of Gadsden, Ala, managed the sale. In all, 2886 acres of land and 885 shares of the Colorado-Big Thompson Water Project were on the block. The total price included US$7.6m from Saturday’s land auction and US$9.1m from an agreement Friday with the Fort Collins-Lovela... |
East African Portland to buy major stake in Kigali Cement22 September 2005, Published under Cement NewsEast African Portland Cement will invest close to Sh150m in a deal that will that will lead to Kenya’s second biggest cement maker buying 49 per cent shares in Kigali Cement Company. The deal, which was negotiated late last week, represents the largest single investment by a state-owned firm acquiring a foreign company. According to Portland’s managing director Zakayo Ole Mapelu, the deal is expected to give EAPC a foothold from which to target the fast expanding regional cement market... |
FLSmidth sells Sinai Cement stake to France’s Vicat21 September 2005, Published under Cement NewsFLSmidth has sold its 7.5 percent stake in Egypt’s Sinai Cement Company for around 100 million Danish crowns (US$16.4m), the Danish company said. FLSmidth sold its stake to French building materials group Vicat , it said in a statement. FLSmidth raised its full-year pretax profit forecast by 30 million crowns due to the sale and now sees 2005 earnings before tax in the range of 350 million to 410 million crowns. |
HeidelbergCement to cut workforce by 110021 September 2005, Published under Cement NewsHeidelbergCement AG said it will cut about 1,100 administrative jobs across Europe in a bid to reduce costs by about EUR50m ($71m) annually and streamline its organisation. The company, based in the city of Heidelberg, has about 42,000 employees worldwide, 25,000 of them in Europe. The company did not say exactly where the cuts would come, saying only that they would be spread across 13 European countries. The measures will be implemented over the next two to three years. |