Cement maker Holcim Philippines Inc. said it completed the expansion of its La Union facility, increasing the plant’s annual production output by 80 percent to 1.8 million tons.
HPI said in a disclosure to the stock exchange it finished the installation of the new grinding equipment and storage facilities in its plant in Bacnotan, La Union two months ahead of schedule.
HPI president and chief executive John Stull said the increased capacity of the La Union plant would enable the company to better support the development of the fast-growing North Luzon market.
“This project is proof of our commitment to support our customers as construction activity picks up with the government’s ‘Build, Build, Build’ program. With our expansion and efficiency initiatives, we can better provide a reliable supply of high-quality cement to help our partners advance the region’s development,” said Stull.
Latest government data showed that two of the three regions in North Luzon outpaced the national economic growth rate in 2017, led by the Cordillera Administrative Region which topped the other 16 regions and whose construction industry surged 23.6 percent.
The La Union plant upgrade is a part of the first phase of the cement firm’s expansion program.
The second phase involves the improvement to its Bulacan and Misamis Oriental plants amounting to $300 million to raise the company’s annual cement production capacity by 30 percent to 13 million tons by 2020.
HPI is a member of the LafargeHolcim Group, the world leader in the building materials industry which is present in 80 countries with more than 80,000 employees.
HPI reported a net income of P1.74 billion in the first three quarters of 2018, down 24.3 percent from P2.3 billion recorded a year ago because of higher production costs.
Nine-month net sales reached P27.3 billion, up 6 percent from P25.7 billion reported in the same period last year.
The share price of HPI closed unchanged at P9.50 per share Thursday.
