French cement company reopens plant in Danao

The surge in demand for cement has prompted a French firm to reopen its cement production plant in Danao City, Cebu yesterday, adding 650,000 tons of cement supply starting this year.
Lafarge Republic Inc. (LRI) production plant in Danao City was formally opened by the French Ambassador Gilles Garachon together with LRI top executives Don H. Lee and Renato Sunico.
The plant will produce 650,000 tons of cement per year starting the first half of this year which will cater solely to the Visayas market.
The revamped plant in Danao City is one of several capacity expansion projects being undertaken by LRI to respond to the growing demand for building materials and the order backlog of construction projects of the leading construction companies, Sunico said.
He said LRI planned to increase cement production in the Luzon plant to 200,000 tons and for Iligan to 100,000 tons of cement supply this year.
With all these expansions in place, LRI is set to add a million tons of cement supply that will support the many construction activities set this year and the years to come from both public and private sector.
“LRI is firmly committed to supporting the ambitious growth targets of the government and the private sector. We will never cease in our efforts to be the most trusted brand of cement for every Filipino, helping build green communities for a better quality of life,” said Lee, director of LRI and president of Lafarge Holdings (Philippines) Inc.
Lee said that they were expecting a large growth in demand for cement in the coming years especially with the government’s commitment to invest more in infrastructure projects around the country as well as the active construction activities from the private sector.
DEMAND
In 2012, 18 million tons of cement were sold in the country which was three million increase from only 15 million tons in 2011.
Sunico said that the firm would be expecting  this growth to continue with the cement supply demand reaching to more than 18 million tons this year because of the construction boom.
In Cebu, at least 7,000 condominium units are scheduled to be delivered starting this year, according to real estate analyst Enrique Soriano in a briefing earlier this week.
Soriano said that more investments in the commercial and residential segments were expected to be poured into Cebu within the next five years.
Government investments in infrastructure are also scheduled to start this year.
For tourism-related infrastructure, Tourism Secretary Ramon Jimenez, Jr said the budget would be P12 billion with a large part of it to be poured in the Visayas region.
With the reopening of the Danao plant, LRI now have six plants around the country—four in the Luzon area, one in Iligan City  and one in Danao City.
Total capacity is estimated at 6.2 million tons from all six plants—5 million tons from the four Luzon plants, 600,000 tons from Iligan City and 650,000 tons from Danao City.
STRENGTHEN TIES
French Ambassador Garachon said that he was pleased with the decision of LRI to reopen the plant and support the construction boom of the country.
He said LRI’s move would also help strengthen the relationship between France, Europe and the Philippines  which he said should still be further enhanced.
French Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Cyril Rocke who was present yesterday said that French investors werebullish and the Philippines would have to promote itself more.
He said that they were doing a lot of activities to link French and Filipino businessmen to encourage more partnerships between the two countries.
There are several French companies and brands which are already here including Schneider Electric, Total Gas, Loreal and Thales.
According to Rocke, the Philippines can get more investments from French businessmen with a more enhanced relationship.
Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Lito Maderazo said the reopening of the plant would really help the construction industry of Cebu especially that Cebu was trying to strengthen its image as an investment and tourism destination.
Aside from LRI, there are three other major cement plants including Cemex, Taiheiyo and Benedicto.
HISTORY
The Danao plant was known as Universal Cement in 1960 ran for 15 years and sat idle for over 20 years since then.
In 1998, Lloyd Richfield Industries Corp. acquired the facility and in 2001 Lafarge acquired it with  Blue Circle, part owner of Republic Cement, as Lafarge’s partner.
In 2007 all companies under Blue Circle were merged and called Lafarge Republic, Inc in 2012.