Potential Swedish cement shortage following key site shut down

Cementa’s Slite plant remains closed following environmental investigation in July.

Swedish cement manufacture Cementa says it is preparing to ration deliveries from December due to uncertainty about the future of its Slite plant, reports Reuters.

The company, owned by Heidelberg Cement, was refused permission in July by a Swedish environmental court to continue mining limestone, a key ingredient of cement.

The site in Gotland, the source of 75% of the cement used in Sweden’s construction industry ceased operations at the end of October. The court’s decisions was based on the potential impact on the island’s water supply and nature reserves.

“It is highly uncertain, currently, whether the Slite factory will have the necessary permits and approval in place for continued full production,” the company said in a statement.

“Cementa is warning clients in advance that cement may be rationed in proportion to the total volume available on a week-by-week basis, starting, potentially, in December.”

The Swedish Government has proposed changing the law to give Slite a stay of execution, warning of severe consequences if cement supply is interrupted, but nothing has been finalised.

“Given what we know today, we would need permission from the government at the latest by around November 15 in order to avoid a shortage of cement,” Karin Comstedt Webb, Cementa’s Head of Environmental Social and Governance, said.

Cementa wants the government to give it permission to quarry limestone for another three years while it prepares to submit a new application for a long-term permit. But it warned that even a decision by the government to allow continued quarrying in the short term might not head off a crisis.