Cement is a great cause, carrying the people's yearning for a better life, and laying a solid foundation for economic and social development. Over the past decades, China's cement industry has been developing continuously and making great progress, realizing the technological leap from shaft kiln to new dry process, completing the transformation from following to leading in the world, and becoming a basic industry with great international competitiveness in China. In the course of the vigorous development of the cement industry, a large number of dedicated outstanding figures have emerged, who have profoundly reshaped the development pattern of China's cement industry and injected strong impetus into the iterative upgrading of the industry. In the near future, China Cement Network will review the industry figures who have made outstanding contributions to China's cement industry from a third-party perspective.
Today we bring Ma Weiping, former executive director and president of China West Cement Co., Ltd. and former chairman of Yaobai Special Cement Group Co., Ltd.
Ma Weiping was born in 1961. In February 1982, he graduated from Tongji University in Shanghai, majoring in building materials, and obtained a bachelor's degree in inorganic non-metallic materials. In 1991 and 1994, he obtained a master's degree in solid materials science and a doctor's degree in materials science and engineering from Pennsylvania State University in the United States. In 2002, he obtained a master's degree in business administration from Michigan State University. From 1996 to 2002, he was a senior process engineer, project manager and manager of product and development at Holcim in Michigan, USA. After returning to China in 2002, he successively served as Vice President of Marketing and Sales of Lafarge (China), Vice President of Lafarge Ruian Cement, General Manager and Vice President of Lafarge Aggregate and Concrete Company. Since December 2009, he has been the executive president of Italy Cement Group Shaanxi Fuping Cement Co., Ltd. and later the president and chief representative of Italy Cement Group in China. In June 2012, he was appointed as a non-executive director of China West Cement Co., Ltd.; on February 5, 2015, he was re-designated as an executive director and appointed as the president, and concurrently served as the chairman and president of Yaobo Special Cement Group Co., Ltd. Resigned on February 2, 2023. Since June 2024, he has been the chairman of the Yangtze River Cement Enterprise Alliance (OCC). After
20 years of working with three international cement giants, he became a manager
who could "transplant" the system. In 1996, Ma Weiping, 35, entered the factory of Holcim Group in Michigan, USA, as a senior process engineer. In the next six years, he became a project manager and manager of product and development department. Holcim was one of the largest cement producers in the world at that time, and his position was in the headquarters-the first full international training of his career.
In 2002, he received his MBA from Michigan State University and returned to China in the same year. This year, Lafarge entered China, and he became the vice president of marketing and sales of Lafarge (China). From 2005 to 2008, he held a similar position in Lafarge Ryan Cement, a joint venture between Lafarge and Shui On Construction; in 2008, he moved to Lafarge Aggregates and Concrete as General Manager and Vice President. From the kiln to the market, from cement to aggregate and concrete, this path allowed him to explore the upstream and downstream of the cement industry. In December
2009, he returned to Shaanxi and became the CEO of Italian Cement Group Shaanxi Fuping Cement Co., Ltd. Three years later, it became the interface between him and the western cement. In March
2012, Western Cement acquired 65% equity of Weinan Shifeng Cement Plant; in June, it acquired 100% equity of Fuping Cement held by Cimfra China, a subsidiary of Italian Cement Group, by way of stock exchange, including a 2 million tons cement production line and 35% equity of Shifeng Cement held by Fuping. The consideration is to issue 284.2 million new shares to Italian Cement Group at HK $2.1815 per share, accounting for 6% of the total share capital after issuance. In June 2012, Ma Weiping was appointed as a non-executive director of Western Cement.
he took over, the company was like this: In 2015, the western cement revenue was 3.501 billion yuan, down 9.8% from the same period last year; Loss attributable to owners of the Company 3. The Annual Report singled out two non-cash factors – a foreign exchange loss of RMB157.1 million due to the depreciation of RMB against the US dollar and a write-off of RMB124.4 million for construction in progress. The sum of the two items is close to 2. The real reflection of the operation is the price: in 2015, the average price of cement in Guanzhong area was 183 yuan per ton (excluding value-added tax), which was lower than overall average price of the company by 200 yuan, and the capacity utilization rate in Guanzhong was close to 63%. In November of that year, the company bought his summary of the market for that year was that "all producers continue to compete on pricing.". For the next year, his judgment is straightforward: " prices have indeed risen. In 2016, the revenue of western cement was 3.719 billion yuan, up 6. Ma Weiping described the price trend in 2016 as "V-shaped"-downward in the first half of the year, rising after the middle of the year, and returning to normal level in the fourth quarter. It was also at this stage that the shareholder structure of the company changed. June and November 2015, Western Cement has successively announced share subscription transactions with Conch International. With 2021, Tongchuan 10000t/d clinker production line commissioning start ceremony was held. According to the report at that time, the project site "completed all the external main works in only 11 months". Ma Weiping announced the official start of commissioning at the ceremony. He said: "As an important measure of structural adjustment, transformation and upgrading of the group company, the 10,000-ton line has further enhanced the market competitiveness of enterprises through projects such as chain extension, chain supplement and chain strengthening." The supporting facilities of this line include waste heat power generation and cement kiln co-disposal of solid waste and hazardous waste projects, and the park also has smart building materials logistics, 3D printing building materials, assembly building and other business sectors. According to the calculation at the time of construction, after the completion of the park, the total annual output value will be about 5 billion yuan and the profits and taxes will be 1.5 billion yuan, which will drive nearly 1000 new jobs upstream and downstream. In the same year, another line listed in the western cement production capacity layout was the 4500t/d clinker production line of Xinjiang Moyu Company, which was ignited and put into operation on December 25, 2020. Capacity replacement has been controversial in the industry. Interestingly, the same person later became one of the most direct critics. By 2023, his first suggestion to the industry is to "cancel capacity replacement"-the reason is that "capacity replacement does not really solve the problem of overcapacity in the industry, and even allows a large number of zombie capacity, backward capacity to become advanced capacity with the help of capacity replacement". The replacement he made in Tongchuan was in line with the rules at that time, and what he saw was that the same rules were used to bypass the reduction in more places. He is very clear about these two things. By the end of 2022, the cement production capacity in the west will be 33.3 million tons, distributed in 21.7 million tons in Shaanxi, 3.5 million tons in Xinjiang, 1.8 million tons in Guizhou, 1.5 million tons in Sichuan, 2 million tons in Mozambique, 1.5 million tons in Congo (Kinshasa) and 1.3 million tons in Ethiopia. Overseas brings more than just quantity. In 2022, the overseas business revenue of Western Cement was 1.13 billion yuan, an increase of 153.9% over the previous year, and the proportion of revenue increased to 13.3%; Mozambique shipped 1.42 million tons of cement and clinker in the whole year, an increase of 36% over the same period last year. From the perspective of profit quality, the average price of overseas cement and clinker was 617 yuan per ton and the gross profit was 268 yuan per ton, while the overall price of the Group was 355 yuan per ton and the gross profit was 80 yuan per ton in the same period. "Africa's regional infrastructure demand is rising, emerging markets have broad prospects, and the local cement industry is mostly limited by scale, backward technology and limited capacity." In June 2021, Ma Weiping described what he saw in Africa when he received guests from Standard Bank of South Africa at the headquarters of the Group, and made it clear that "the company plans to replicate the successful domestic model, further integrate upstream and downstream resources, constantly enhance its core competitiveness, and strive to become a leading supplier of building materials in Africa." This curve can not be fully recorded in the operation. After 2016, driven by the structural reform of the supply side, the industry has come out of the trough, and the price has been rising year after year, which is the background of the rapid recovery of cement profits in the west. What really belongs to the action during his term of office is the change of production capacity structure, the extension of industrial chain and the opening up of overseas markets-by the end of 2022, the company's aggregate production capacity will be 15 million tons and the commercial concrete production capacity will be 12.4 million cubic meters, and the sales of both businesses will be increasing. On February 2, 2023, Western Cement announced that Ma Weiping resigned as executive director and president "in order to devote more time to other personal commitments". The successor was Cao Jianshun, who joined Yaobai Group in 1994. On the same day, Wang Fayin and Chu Yufeng were appointed as executive directors. he handled after taking office was "anti-involution". On September 9, 2024, OCC held the Yangtze River Basin Cement Anti-Inwinding Forum in Wuhu Conch. There are 168 enterprises and 608 production lines in ten provinces and cities in the Yangtze River Basin, and the total production capacity of clinker is 7. At the meeting, the concept of "Anti-Inwinding Anti-dumping Compliance Staggered Peak Production" was put forward for the first time. On November 15, 2024, Ma Weiping made a keynote report on the game and cooperation between small and medium-sized enterprises and large enterprises at the second OCC anti-volume forum held in Tongcheng, Anhui Province. He used the term "prisoner's dilemma" to describe the price war-under the involution, no one benefits. How to break the game? We must strengthen industry self-discipline and strengthen enterprise cooperation. Large enterprises stress the pattern, and small and medium-sized enterprises stress integrity. We should stick to the knife edge inward, constantly reduce costs and increase efficiency, and control costs to win the strategic initiative. Effectively control supply, jointly stop kilns and limit production, and maintain reasonable profits. In May 2025, he delivered a speech as chairman of OCC at the "2025 China Cement Double Carbon Conference and the 13th Energy Conservation and Environmental Protection Technology Exchange Conference" held in Wuhan. "Without the support of economic benefits, it is difficult for enterprises to invest resources in technological innovation and equipment upgrading, and energy saving and carbon reduction will become passive water," he said. Only by balancing green development and economic benefits can industry achieve long-term prosperity. Four months later, at the "14th China Cement Energy Conservation and Environmental Protection Technology Exchange Conference and the 6th Intelligent Summit Forum" held in Zibo, he summarized the next step of OCC as "Four Persistences": insisting on peak staggering production, insisting on communication and coordination between small and medium-sized enterprises and leading enterprises in the industry, insisting on improving industry concentration by market-oriented means, and insisting on giving consideration to both sales and benefits. Overseas is still the direction of his concern. In April 2026, when sharing the analysis of overseas cement market investment at the 15th China Cement Industry Summit, he said: "Chinese-funded enterprises go to sea not only to cope with the domestic downturn, but also to open up new markets and find new increments." He gave three suggestions to his peers: grasping the leading role, concentrating efforts and resources to cultivate a regional or national market, making it better, bigger and stronger; improving efficiency, maintaining market prices, avoiding bringing "involution" to overseas markets; localization, deeply integrating into the local market, and insisting on localization operation. As for the next stage of the industry, his own judgment is not optimistic. In 2023, when he communicated with China Cement Network, he said that three years later, it still sounds not out of date- "Resolving overcapacity is imminent, and the industry will become more and more difficult and the market situation will become worse and worse.".
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