On May 21, Taiwan Cement held a shareholders'meeting, formally declaring that Taiwan Cement Co., Ltd., which has a history of 78 years, will move towards a group holding company after seven years of active low-carbon transformation. The English name has been changed from Taiwan Cement Corporation to TCC Group Holdings, spanning 11 industries and 13 transnational markets in the world. At the same time, the board of directors elected Zhang Anping as the chairman of Taiwan Cement. Zhang Anping, chairman of
Taiwan Cement, pointed out that 60 years ago, Taiwan Cement was a pure cement supplier; 60 years later, it has been promoted to an environmental engineering company dedicated to low-carbon building materials, resource recycling and green energy. In 2023, Taiwan Cement has delivered a healthy and stable financial statement with diversified income, diversified risks, comprehensive innovation and full cash flow.
In 2017, more than 80% of the main revenue of Taiwan Mud still came from the cross-strait cement market, becoming the two feet supporting Taiwan Mud. Zhang Anping pointed out that at that time, he had faintly seen that the mainland market might enter the plain period after touching the peak, so he began to lay out the market outside the two sides, first establishing a joint venture with Turkey's OYAK, In addition, Cimpor of Portugal has successfully obtained ultra-low carbon alternative raw materials and fuels in Africa, leading the world's cement industry in the technology of replacing clinker with calcined clay to make ultra-low carbon cement. In 2023, 45% of the profit performance has come from the contribution of European low carbon cement. At the end of November last year, Taiwan Cement decided to expand its investment in the low-carbon cement market in Europe, Asia and Africa. The international layout of Turkey and Europe and Africa undoubtedly created a steady third foot for Taiwan Cement's operation.
Zhang Anping said, "The consumption of cement all over the world is in direct proportion to the growth of GDP, and then GDP may continue to grow after a certain point, but the consumption of cement will reach a plateau period, and then it will decline after a certain period of the plateau period, and then it will reach the bottom and come up again, which may never reach the highest point." But cement is a necessity, so it is impossible to do without this industry. There is no carbon fee in the mainland yet. We believe that when the carbon fee comes out, our products will increase their competitiveness, but this does not mean that we will not stop kilns or close factories. This year basically can be said to be no chance to make money from the mainland market, but we will continue to operate the mainland market, will stop some kilns, and even some factories feel that there is no future, the conditions are not good enough to shut down, this is what we will do in the next 12 to 18 months.
As for the green energy, energy storage, smart grid and high-power ternary lithium batteries that Taiwan Cement has actively invested in over the past six years, Chang An-ping believes that these new energy undertakings, which support and continue the future civilization of mankind, are the tentacles of Taiwan Cement's future extension. In addition to bringing stable profits, they have also enabled Taiwan Cement to accumulate many cross-domain patents and technologies. In the future, it will be invincible in the competition between carbon reduction and energy. He describes the new energy sector as the fourth leg that will support Taiwan Cement to complete its transformation, completely reinvent itself from its historical role, and support a new Taiwan Cement. Cheng Yaohui, general manager of
Taiwan Cement, explained at the shareholders'meeting that Taiwan Cement has formally established four major cement bases in the world, which has brought stable net cash inflows to Taiwan Cement. The Netherlands has become a new holding platform for Taiwan Cement's overseas development, developing low-carbon cement, European energy storage and charging pile business. At present, the European energy storage business is located in Australia, the United Kingdom, the United States, South America and Peru, and the charging stations are concentrated in Italy, France, Spain and Portugal. At the same time, Taiwan Cement's energy storage business in Taiwan has recently further expanded to the Netherlands and Hangzhou in the mainland, complementing our new energy companies in Europe.
