At present, the domestic cement industry is experiencing a "painful period". The annual reports of Conch Cement , Huaxin Cement , Tianshan Stock and other leading enterprises in 2024 show that the profits of enterprises are mostly under pressure due to multiple factors. However, one of the highlights is that the overseas business of these companies has shown a trend of growth against the trend, which has become an important support for the company's performance. Up to now, Chinese-funded cement enterprises have laid out clinker production lines in more than 20 countries overseas, with clinker production capacity of nearly 93 million tons.
With the support of overseas demand, the domestic cement market is also showing signs of recovery. Since the first quarter, domestic cement prices have stabilized and rebounded, downstream demand has gradually improved, and the pace of industry recovery has accelerated. Conch Cement recently issued a performance forecast showing that, benefiting from lower costs and higher sales, the company earned 1.808 billion yuan in the first quarter, an increase of about 20% over the same period last year.
In response to the impact of the "reciprocal tariff" imposed by the United States on the cement industry, Li Kunming, an analyst at China Cement Network Cement Big Data Research Institute, said in an interview with reporters: "The proportion of cement products exported from China to the United States is very low, and the short-term impact on the industry is relatively small. Moreover, Chinese cement enterprises can strengthen communication and cooperation with other countries to promote the continued growth of cement exports.
Mergers and acquisitions + capacity layout continue to expand the international market
in 2024, what is the "report card" of A-share cement enterprises in the overseas market? In 2024
, Huaxin Cement achieved an overseas business income of 7.984 billion yuan, with a year-on-year increase of 47%; the overseas cement sales volume was 16.2 million tons, with a year-on-year increase of 37%; the overseas production capacity exceeded 22.5 million tons per year, with a year-on-year increase of 8%; the accumulated overseas operation and construction cement production capacity exceeded 25 million tons. In
2024, the overseas offices of Conch Cement in Africa and South America were established one after another, the Conch in Andijan, Uzbekistan was put into operation, the construction of Conch in Phnom Penh, Cambodia was accelerated and put into operation in February 2025, and the overseas trusteeship project was smoothly promoted. The annual report shows that in 2024, the overseas business income of the company is 4.677 billion yuan, the gross profit rate is increased to 32.33%, and the overseas clinker production capacity is increased by 2.3 million tons.
"In 2024, the company's international business continued to maintain a profitable trend, with sales and profits increasing.". Recently, the company's Tunisia project has completed the procedures of delivery and equity change. Recently, Tianshan shares responded to investors' concerns at the collective performance presentation. In 2024, the overseas regional business income of Tianshan shares was 840 million yuan, an increase of 4.36% over the same period last year.
In the context of the moderate decline in domestic cement demand and the overall profit contraction of the industry, the "overseas report card" of the above-mentioned enterprises' counter-trend growth is particularly eye-catching. A number of cement enterprises said that in 2025, they will strengthen the international development strategy and accelerate the overseas layout.
Conch Cement said that in 2025, the company will accelerate its international development, give full play to the functions of overseas offices, tap suitable project carriers in emerging markets, and further improve its overseas layout. Tianshan shares said that the company will push key projects to the ground and continue to expand the international market.
In 2025, the planned capital expenditure of Huaxin Cement is about 13.3 billion yuan, which will be mainly used for overseas mergers and acquisitions, the continuation expenditure of the company's investment in aggregate projects in the early stage (including the final payment of mines, etc.), and the investment in technological transformation of ultra-low emissions. In the company's capital expenditure in 2025, the largest proportion is the merger and acquisition expenditure of projects in Nigeria and Brazil. In December 2024, Huaxin Cement disclosed that it planned to invest about $838 million and $186.6 million to acquire cement assets in Nigeria and four aggregate plants in Brazil, respectively.
"This year, we will continue to expand the market of cement and related products in emerging markets around the world, and create new growth points in the integration, quality improvement and product expansion of the domestic cement market." Li Yeqing, director and President of Huaxin Cement, said. Speaking of the impact of the "reciprocal tariff" in the United States, he said that the incident had no significant impact on the company's business.
Price increase + demand improvement market recovery signal appears
Looking back at the domestic market, the recovery signal has appeared. Conch Cement disclosed on the evening of April 8 that, benefiting from the decrease of product cost and the increase of sales volume, the company expects to achieve a net profit of about 1.808 billion yuan in the first quarter of 2025, an increase of about 20% over the previous year, and a net profit of about 1.650 billion yuan after deduction of non-profits, an increase of about 20% over the previous year.
"In the context of the decline in coal costs and the rise in the average price of cement, the profits of the cement industry will be restored, and the annual profit margin of the industry is expected to be around 2.8% in 2025, slightly better than same period in 2024." Li Kunming said.
In Li Kunming's view, with the strengthening of self-discipline and off-peak production of cement enterprises, it is expected that the market will return to normalization in 2025, and the fluctuation space will be narrowed, showing the operation characteristics of "rising with a top and falling with a limit".
Jinyu Group, Tianshan Stock, Jidong Cement and other enterprises have conveyed positive signals and confidence in public. "Cement prices performed better in the first quarter, with a year-on-year increase of more than 20 yuan/ton.". In April, the cement market will enter the normal sales season, and the sales volume will be further recovered; in terms of price, there will be relevant price recovery plans in Northeast China, Shanxi, Hebei, Shandong, Henan, Inner Mongolia, Chongqing, Hunan and other regions. Jinyu Group predicts that the price center of cement in each period of this year will be higher than that of last year, thus improving profits.
Jidong Cement disclosed at the performance presentation meeting that the overall sales volume of the company in the first quarter was basically the same as that of the same period last year, the comprehensive price of cement clinker increased by more than 20 yuan/ton, the cost decreased year on year, and the gross profit rate increased significantly.
Talking about the development trend of the industry this year, Tianshan shares said that with the start of infrastructure projects, the decline in demand is expected to gradually narrow in the second half of the year. At present, the consensus of the industry against "involution" competition is stronger, the mechanism and methods of peak staggering production are becoming more and more mature, and the foundation of the industry's ecological construction is more solid. The company will earnestly implement the relevant policy requirements against the industry volume, earnestly implement the peak staggering scheme, and inject confidence into the recovery of the industry.
At the performance presentation meeting held on April 15, Conch Cement said that despite the challenges of intensified competition in the short term, the cement industry is in a critical transition period of high-quality development and still has certain growth potential, driven by policy support, industry integration and technological innovation.
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