Central and South American countries have different levels of economic development, and the scale of their cement industry is also very different. We have previously analyzed the cement industry in Brazil, which is so large compared to the rest of the countries that the size of the cement industry in Brazil alone is almost equal to the size of the cement industry in the rest of Central and South America combined. Some countries have very small cement industries, such as French Guiana, which has only one cement grinding station. Here we will analyze cement production capacity, production trends, recent industry developments and other noteworthy events in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay and Venezuela.
First, Argentina
1.1 Cement production enterprises in Argentina
At present, there are 14 integrated cement plants and 4 cement grinding stations in Argentina, and these cement production plants have a cement production capacity of 20.3 million tons per year. This also makes Argentina largest cement producer in South America besides Brazil.
Argentina's largest cement producer is Loma Negra, whose parent company is InterCement, a well-known Brazilian cement producer. At present, Loma Negra operates seven integrated cement plants and one grinding station in Argentina, with a total cement production capacity of 8.8 million tons per year, accounting for 43% of the total cement production capacity in Argentina.
Figure 1: Distribution of cement plants in Argentina
Data source: Globalcement, China Cement Research Institute
Holcim (Argentina), a subsidiary of Lafarge Holcim in Argentina, is the second largest cement producer in Argentina. At present, Holcim (Argentina) has three integrated cement plants and two grinding stations in Argentina, with a total capacity of about 5.8 million tons per year.
The third largest cement company in Argentina is Cementos Avellaneda, a joint venture between Spain's Molins Cement Group (Cementos Molins Group) and Brazil's Votorantim. At present, the joint venture company has two integrated factories and one grinding station in Argentina, with a total capacity of 4.8 million tons per year. In June 2016, Averanda announced the upgrading of its San Jacinto grinding plant, with an estimated investment of $189 million, which will increase the grinding capacity of the grinding station from 300000 tons per year to 1 million tons per year, which will also increase the total cement production capacity of Averanda to 5.6 million tons per year. The upgrade is expected to be completed in early 2019.
The smallest cement producer in Argentina is PetroQuimica Commodo Rivadavana (PCR), which has only two smaller cement complexes in Argentina with a combined capacity of 900,000 tons per year.
1.2 Current cement production
According to the data of the Argentine Cement Production Association (AFCP), Argentina's cement production decreased by 10.7% in 2016 compared with the same period last year. From 12.19 million tons in 2015 to 10.89 million tons in 2016. However, the situation seems to have improved in 2017. Cement production in the first three months of 2017 increased from 2.56 million tons in 2016 to 2.7 million tons, and March 2017 was the best record in recent years, with an increase of 15.5% compared with March 2016. In the first half of 2017, Argentina's cement production increased by 8.4% year-on-year to 5.51 million tons. In July 2017, cement production rose sharply again, up 18.8% year-on-year, reaching 1.01 million tons.
Figure 2: Change in cement production in Argentina, 2005-2016
Source: Argentine Cement Producers Association (AFCP), China Cement Research Institute
At present, according to the latest AFCP data, Argentina has produced 10.7 million tons of cement in the first 11 months of 2017, an increase of 8.5% over the same period last year. According to the current growth trend, Argentina's cement production is expected to reach 11.86 million tons in 2017, almost recovering the lost ground in 2016.
1.3 Cement import and export status in 2017
In 2017, Argentina's cement import and export is also an important topic in Argentina's cement market. According to relevant reports, Holcim (Argentina) had planned to import 250,000 tons of clinker from outside to Argentina from May 2017 to April 2018. In addition, La Itacamba, a Bolivian cement producer, also transported 4,000 tons of clinker to Argentina earlier in 2017, and reportedly transported the same amount of clinker to Argentina again in mid-November 2017. Although these hundreds of thousands of tons of clinker only account for a small part even in Argentina, the industry development trend reflected in this reflects the gradual recovery of Argentina's cement industry from the setback in 2016.
1.4 Recent News
November 2017: Loma Negra's initial public offering in November 2017 was originally expected to raise $800 million, but ended up raising more than $1 billion.
October 2017: Loma Negra and local energy company Genneia sign a 20-year deal to buy renewable energy that will begin in January 2018. The electricity purchased under the agreement comes from the Parque E Eólico Rawson wind power plant, which just completed a 24 MW capacity expansion in 2017.
October 2017: Averanda announces a $230 million investment to upgrade its La Calera and Olavarr Olavarría cement plants. Among them, $200 million will be used to upgrade its La Calera plant in San Luis, which plans to expand its capacity from 700000 tons per year to 1 million tons per year, which is expected to be completed in the first half of 2019. The remaining USD 30 million will be used to upgrade the capacity of the Olavarr Olavarría plant, which plans to upgrade its capacity from 2.4 million tons per year to 2.7 million tons per year by 2019.
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