in 2022, in order to cope with challenges and pressures, cement enterprises actively seek new ways and transformation and upgrading, and strive to achieve sustainable development, especially some large enterprises are more representative, leading the direction of the industry. For the convenience of comparison, this paper selects Conch Cement, Tianshan Materials, Huaxin Building Materials and Red Lion Holding Group as four major leading enterprises to analyze the changes in the scale and direction of cash flow outflow in the downward period and the reasons behind them, so as to provide reference direction and significance for the transformation and development of the industry and to get out of the predicament.
In order to simplify the analysis process, the author uses the index of cash outflow from investment activities in the cash flow statement as the focus of analysis. Because not all companies publish capital expenditure and the calculation method is cumbersome, the author does not use it for the time being. Cash paid for the purchase and construction of fixed assets, intangible assets and other long-term assets is used to represent the cash expenditure for the construction of its own projects, cash paid for investment is used to represent the cash expenditure for financial management (partly including the expenditure for the acquisition of equity in joint ventures and joint ventures), and net cash paid for the acquisition of subsidiaries and other business units is used to represent the acquisition of enterprises. Among them, the sum of their own project construction and acquisition enterprises can roughly represent the cash outflow of capital expenditure. Since 2022, the overall cash expenditure scale of the four enterprises has declined as a whole, of which Conch and Tianshan have declined significantly compared with 2020 and 2021; Huaxin and Hongshi have risen first and then declined, and the peak of expenditure is in 2022.
Figure 1: Changes in total cash flow outflow from investment activities of some major enterprises (RMB 100 million)
Data source: Cement Big Data (https://data.ccement.com/)
There are great differences in different expenditure directions of transformation and development modes.
From the perspective of cash flow expenditure, Conch Cement is mainly used for financial management expenditure, accounting for a relatively high proportion, which is maintained at about 70% all the year round, which is mainly related to the large amount of monetary funds retained on Conch's books, and obtains stable and considerable investment income through financial management; The construction of its own projects accounted for 2-3%, mainly including the development of the main business, the extension of the industrial chain, energy conservation and environmental protection, etc. During the downward period of the industry, it took the initiative to reduce expenditure, and the scale of expenditure was reduced. In recent years, except for the acquisition of assets of Western Cement in Xinjiang, Conch Cement seldom acquired peer enterprises, and the expenditure of acquisition enterprises accounted for a relatively small proportion.
Tianshan Material is mainly used for its own project construction, including technical transformation of clinker production line, aggregate infrastructure construction, etc., accounting for more than 70%, but the absolute amount has declined in recent years; although the amount of expenditure for acquisition of enterprises is small, it has increased significantly from 2024 to 2025, and by September 2025, the proportion has increased to 12.6%.
Figures 2 and 3: Trend
of cash expenditure by structure of Conch and Tianshan Source: Cement Big Data (https://data.ccement.com/)
The main expenditure direction of Huaxin Building Materials is its own project construction and acquisition enterprises, most of which are overseas enterprises. The total proportion of the two is relatively high. During the downturn of the domestic industry, the capital expenditure of Huaxin Building Materials mainly focused on expanding overseas cement and aggregate production capacity and improving overseas market competitiveness. The development model was mainly technological transformation after acquisition, as well as new line construction. In August 2025, Huaxin completed the acquisition of Lafarge's African assets at a cost of about $800 million, with the largest amount of overseas acquisitions. As of September 2025, the proportion of acquisition expenditure reached 68.3%. Since
2023, the main direction of Red Lion's cash expenditure has been the acquisition of enterprises and the construction of its own projects. Among them, in 2023, it completed the acquisition of Asian silicon industry, successfully entered the polysilicon industry, and constructed a new pattern of "cement + polysilicon" dual-industry development. From 2024 to 2025, Red Lion mainly built new Haidong Red Lion silicon-based new material projects and its own cement projects, but the overall cash expenditure decreased.
Figures 4, 5: Huaxin, Trend of
cash expenditure of Red Lion's sub-structure Source: Cement Big Data (https://data.ccement.com/)
It is difficult for the industry to improve its efficiency significantly in the short term, and enterprises should take the initiative to seek changes
. It will take time for the market to clear, and it is difficult for the industry to improve significantly in the short term. The author suggests that, on the one hand, cement enterprises should take the initiative to reduce cash expenditure appropriately and reserve sufficient grain and grass to prevent occasional needs; on the other hand, they should actively seek change and transformation according to their own reality, so as to win the strategic initiative for the new round of competition and achieve high-quality and sustainable development.
Figure 6: Industry benefit at low level
Data source: cement big data (https://data.ccement.com/)
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