San Miguel group eyes $1B investment in cement business

THE SAN Miguel group is building 10 million tons in additional annual cement manufacturing capacity in five different locations around the country at an estimated project cost of $1 billion within the next two years.

The additional cement capacity – which will jack up SMC’s cement production capacity by 167 percent from only six million tons per year at present – is anchored on the group’s optimism on the real estate industry, SMC president Ramon S. Ang said on Monday during the listing of P33.5 billion worth of new preferred shares issued by the company.

Ang said SMC was upbeat on the cement business as the surge in investments poured into real estate would likely fuel demand for cement. He said additional cement capacity of two million tons annually will be put up in each of the following locations: Pangasinan, Bulacan, Quezon Province, Cebu and Davao.