Taiwan Cement Corp (台灣水泥) plans to spend up to 770 million euros (US$843.5 million) to boost its holdings in two cement ventures in Turkey and Portugal as demand for low-carbon emissions cement rises in Europe, the company said on Monday.
Taiwan Cement’s board of directors has approved a plan to lift the company’s stake in OYAK Denizli Cimento, a joint venture with Turkey’s OYAK Group, to 60 percent from 40 percent and to increase its stake in Cimpor Portugal Holdings SGPS SA, a Portuguese cement joint venture with OYAK, to 100 percent from 40 percent, it said in a statement.
“Through increased investments in OYAK Denizli Cimento and Cimpor Portugal, Taiwan Cement chairman Nelson Chang (張安平) believes the company is set to become one of the very few low-carbon emissions cement suppliers,” company spokeswoman and chief sustainability officer Shelly Yeh (葉毓君) told a midnight news conference.
Photo courtesy of Taiwan Cement Corp via CNA
The EU taxes cement and some imports of goods produced with high carbon emissions, so low-carbon emissions cement would enjoy a competitive edge over traditional cement, Yeh said.
OYAK Denizli Cimento is the biggest cement supplier in Turkey. It operates seven plants and has a 16 percent market share in the nation.
Lisbon-based Cimpor has a 55 percent market share in Portugal and has operations in Ivory Coast and Cameroon.
Taiwan Cement said it expects to complete the transactions by the end of the first quarter next year.
The company has continued to expand the revenue contribution of low-carbon emissions cement, with such products accounting for 42 percent of its revenue of NT$62.5 billion (US$1.99 billion) in the first half of this year compared with 34 percent in the same period in 2021, company data showed.
Revenue contribution from ordinary Portland cement dropped to 28 percent from 51 percent over the same period, the data showed.
Taiwan Cement said it has a target to reduce cement revenue contribution to 50 percent by 2025 from 85 percent in 2021, with half of its revenue to be from green energy solutions such as batteries and electric vehicle chargers as it transforms from a traditional cement maker into a green-energy service provider.
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