Source: Freedonia Group, Cleveland
Demand in the U.S. for fiber cement products is forecast to increase 8.5 percent annually through 2017 to 2.9 billion sq. ft. (valued at $2.2 billion), according to Fiber Cement, a new study from market researcher Freedonia Group.
Read MoreSources: Saint-Gobain, Paris; CP staff
Saint-Gobain anticipates a first quarter 2014 closing on the sale of its Roaring River, N.C., Terre Haute, Ind., and White City, Ore., fiber cement siding facilities to Alpharetta, Ga.-based Plycem USA Inc., which distributes fiber cement trim sourced from a Costa Rica plant.
Read MoreSources: Lafarge S.A., Paris; CP staff
Lafarge will boost its cement production stake south of the border in partnership with Elementia, a consortium whose holdings include concrete pipe and fiber cement siding businesses in Mexico, plus a cement mill under construction in the country’s central region. A joint venture will span a) Lafarge plants in Vito and Tula, with combined output near 1 million metric tons; and, b) the new mill, with which Elementia was chartering Cementos Fortaleza, whose capacity slightly exceeds the sister facilities’ total.
Read MoreA $750,000 Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) grant, supported by the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, will help update fiber cement recycling at James Hardie’s Peru, Ill., operation.
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