Most of money to go on Nº 1 challenge of decarbonisation
Cement company CIMPOR intends to invest €1.4 billion in the country by 2030, much of it to meet the “number one challenge” of decarbonisation, with infrastructure, technology and new products.
The announcement was made by CEO Cevat Mert at a meeting with journalists, which marked roughly six months since he took over after CIMPOR was taken into 100% ownership by Taiwan Cement Corporation (TCC) last March.
In October, CIMPOR announced an investment of €360 million in decarbonisation and innovation projects by 2026, including €180 million in its Alhandra Production Centre in Vila Franca de Xira (Greater Lisbon).
At today’s meeting, Mert also said that the company’s goal is to enter more markets, in addition to the 14 countries where it has a presence.
CIMPOR is also currently investing around €50 million of its own funds in a terminal in the port of Bristol in the United Kingdom and in France and will “undoubtedly invest in the US.”
Commercial manager, Ignacio Gomez, added that the change in markets – focusing more on Europe and the United States – was due to the new environmental requirements.
“The players in Africa or China aren’t investing in this (…) so they have lower (production) costs. Continuing to export in Africa has become more difficult,” he explained, adding that 25% to 30% of production in Portugal is destined for export.
Cevat Mert said that TCC intends to keep 100% of CIMPOR, the brand it regards as its “gateway to Europe”. TCC also intends to continue to strengthen the workforce, although he acknowledged ‘difficulties in attracting talent’.
According to Diogo Felgueiras, CIMPOR’s financial director in Portugal and Cabo Verde, the cement company is responsible for around 2,000 direct and indirect jobs.
As for future challenges, CIMPOR signalled the need to increase the pace of investment planned by the government and simplify procedures to facilitate project development.
“We’re making a big investment, and if the government doesn’t keep up the same pace, we’ll have a problem in the future,” said Ignacio Gomez, giving as examples the problems with the transport of carbon dioxide (CO2) that is captured and with the licensing of projects.
As for geopolitical instability, Cevat Mert said he expects “ups and downs”, but doesn’t yet see any reason to “raise the red flag”.
“Everything is going quite steadily and, as we all know, the future is energy and technology and, as long as this transformation is taking place, there will be construction -and if there is construction, there will be cement.”
LUSA
