The good, the bad and the ambitious

Concern and optimism don’t usually go hand in hand, but both seem apparent in the huge quarrying and heavy construction markets of Africa, Asia and the Middle East.

In a recent interview, 436 Komatsu CEO Tetsuji Ohashi said the world’s second largest OEM’s sales in China dropped dramatically in April and May 2014, with delays to the start of a number of major construction projects likely to see the firm missing its annual China sales target. More encouragingly, though, Ohashi believes the nadir for mining machinery demand could be nearing.

473 Volvo Construction Equipment has also seen its sales dip in China, said to be the main factor behind a global 9% decline in Q2 2014 results, and counteracting encouraging sales rises in North America and Europe.

In the Asian cement sector, the concern-optimism dynamic continues. While latest figures show demand growth slowing in Indonesia, it’s up in Vietnam. There’s also much encouragement from markets outside the continent. In Africa, the merger between the Nigerian unit of French cement maker 725 Lafarge, Lafarge Wapco, and its wholly-owned South African subsidiary in a deal worth not far shy of €1 billion will see a new combined entity, Lafarge Africa, accelerate its growth on the African continent and expand its product offering in South Africa and across the region. This will see total capacity increase to over 17 million tonnes a year by 2017.

Another African cement industry powerhouse, Nigeria’s 7635 Dangote Cement, owned by Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, says it is expanding in 13 other African countries, with the introduction of new plants across Africa during H2 2014.

My new role as Editor of Aggregate Business International and Aggregates Business Europe comes after more than two-and-a-half years as Assistant Editor of World Highways magazine, Aggregates Business International’s fellow Route One Publishing title. During my time on the publication I worked on stories covering huge road and bridge building projects in Asia, Africa and the Middle East, all involving major international OEMs and requiring many thousands of tonnes of aggregate-based materials.

This hunger for new infrastructure across emerging nations, particularly in Asia, is a key reason why leading independent construction industry research firm, The 969 Freedonia Group, predicts worldwide sales of construction aggregates to expand 5.8% per year to 53.2 billion tonnes by 2017.

With this level of aggregates demand anticipated, the 7556 bauma China in Shanghai and 7143 bC India in Delhi shows later this year are likely to, once again, attract new record exhibitor and attendee numbers.

An example of the kind of business set to benefit from rising aggregate demand in Asia can be found in the Quarry Profile in this edition of Aggregates Business International. Doo Won Development’s quarry blasts, crushes and mixes granite from the steep mountainous slopes on the outskirts of Wonju, a tourist-friendly city in north-east South Korea, to produce crushed aggregate used in the production of ready-mixed concrete for major infrastructure schemes.

To end my first column as ABI-ABE Editor, I’d very much like to thank my predecessor, Patrick Smith, who was such a personable, knowledgeable and dedicated Editor (of Aggregates Business International and Aggregates Business Europe). I will be drawing on his industry insight and appreciating his hard work in his new role as Executive Editor as we, and the rest of the Route One Publishing team, strive to continue making both magazines THE must-reads for everyone in quarrying, recycling and heavy construction.