Quarry Products

UK sales volumes of aggregates, ready-mixed concrete and asphalt improved again in the first quarter of 2015, says the Mineral Products Association (MPA).

Seasonally adjusted results, which provide a consistent quarter by quarter comparison, indicated that crushed rock and sand and gravel sales volumes rose by 2.2% and 3.6% respectively compared to Q4 2014, and ready-mixed concrete and asphalt sales were 1.3% and 1.2% up. Annual sales of cement grew by 7.8% in 2014.

To put these improvements into a l

Swiss cement maker Holcim has revealed that its Q1 2015 net profit almost quadrupled after the sale of its minority stake in Siam City Cement.

The sector giant, which is in the process of merging with France's Lafarge, revealed earlier today that its first-quarter net profit jumped to €295.7 million (CHF 310 million) from €76.3 million (CHF 80 million) in the same period last year.

Holcim said it expected 2015 operating profit adjusted for merger costs to be between €2.57 billion (CHF 2.7 billion) and

Middle East Stone, a new exhibition dedicated to the stone product sector, will take place at the Dubai World Trade Centre next month, as industry experts tip the industry to be worth US$5.4 billion in 2015 – up from $5.1 billion in 2014.

Created by dmg, the show from 18-21 May 2015 comes as the stone market has been increasing due to the green building codes and sustainable development plans in the GCC region, according to a report.

Stone is said to be one of the most environment-friendly products

Thirty HGV drivers are being sought by Hope Construction Materials, one of Britain’s leading independent concrete and aggregates producers, to operate the company’s new fleet of Renault trucks.

Hope says it is expanding its fleet of ready-mixed concrete mixer trucks and aggregate tipper wagons to meet growing demand in the construction sector.

The company currently has 450 core fleet drivers – both directly employed and independent contractors – and is bolstering its transport work force with new driv

Construction materials giant Cemex’s consolidated net sales reached US$3.4 billion during the first quarter of 2015, an increase of 7% on a like-for-like basis compared to the same period of 2014.

Operating EBITDA increased by 6% during the quarter to US$569 million versus the same period in 2014. On a like-for-like basis, operating EBITDA increased by 14% in the same period.

The Q1 2015 consolidated net sales increase was said by the Mexican headquartered company to be due to the higher prices of it

CRH, the Irish building materials’ giant, has received European Commission clearance to buy €6.5 billion of Lafarge and Holcim assets being divested by both companies as part of their merger plan.

The bulk of the assets being acquired by CRH are in Europe, but they also include a cement plant in the Philippines. The Irish Times report that the company’s revenues will rise from about €19 billion to more than €24 billion, while earnings will increase from €1.6 billion to €2.4 billion.

The divestments re

New large-scale projects may provide crucial impetus for growing the aggregates industry in Belarus, while Russia’s industry struggles due to numerous internal and external factors, writes Eugene Gerden.

The Eurocement group, the biggest supplier of cement, ready-mixed concrete and aggregates in Russia, owned by a local billionaire Filaret Galchev, is looking to build a large plant for the production of crushed stone in the Brest region of Belarus, according to the press service of the Belarus government

In 2015, Belarusian companies plan to make 6.1 million tonnes of cement.

Of these, some 2 million tonnes are to be exported, including 1.3 million tonnes to be supplied to Russia via the Eurocement Group.

In 2014, Belarus exported US$450 million (€425.65 million) worth of construction materials.

The Polish Association of Cement Producer (SPC) reports that almost 2.7 million tonnes of cement were sold in Poland in the first quarter of 2015, a 3.4% rise when compared to 2013.

SPC expects that following quarters will show even higher growth and Poland's sales in the whole year of 2015 will increase by 5-6% year on year.

This will be thanks to new investments which will be financed from the European Union as well as thanks to the improvement of the economic parameters.

Tax avoidance via mis-declaration and the alleged illegal import of cement from Iran are issues on which the All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association (APCMA) is seeking government intervention.

Pakistan now has a surplus cement output capacity of over 20 million tonnes annually, while the government has made substantial losses from tax collections as the quantity of cement brought in from Iran is under-declared, says the association.