Worldwide English Keywords Find COMPANY SUSTAINABILITY DIGITAL INVESTOR RELATIONS MEDIA CAREER | BLOG Home Company Products + Services Cement Cement Cement is a finely milled mineral powder, usually grey in colour. The most important raw materials for the production of cement are limestone, clay, and marl. Mixed with water, cement serves as an adhesive to bind sand, gravel, and hard rock in concrete. Cement hardens both in the air and under water, and remains in its hardened state once reached. Cement is usually available in the form of a homogeneous bulk dry good. It’s characteristics are standardised in order to ensure the required stability, reliability, and processability in the application. Cements are classified according to their early and final strength as well as their composition. In addition to cements that consist of 100% clinker, there are so-called composite cements, in which a portion of the clinker is replaced by alternative raw materials, such as fly ash, ground slag, or limestone. As the production of clinker is energy-intensive and releases large amounts of CO2, the use of alternative raw materials can conserve natural resources and reduce CO2 emissions. Depending on the desired application, different types of cement – each with a specific composition – are necessary. Cement characteristics can also be modified through the use of additives. We offer our customers a broad range of cement products, including quality cements, special cements with targeted characteristics, special geotechnical building materials and an expanded range of binders. Our product portfolio varies from country to country. Products and Services Cement Aggregates Ready-Mixed Concrete Asphalt Group Services/Trade Research + Technology Reference Projects Growth in Metropolitan Areas How Cement Is Made How Cement Is Made Join us for a short tour to experience how cement is made: starting with the extraction of raw materials and ending with the finished product. Development of sales volumes In 2020, cement and clinker sales volumes fell by 3.1% to 122.0 million tonnes (previous year: 125.9). With the exception of Africa-Eastern Mediterranean Basin, all Group areas recorded declines in sales. Countries in Northern Europe and Asia were most affected, followed by Western and Southern Europe and North America. As part of our portfolio optimisations, we expanded our market share in Morocco in 2020 by purchasing a grinding plant with an annual capacity of 0.5 million tonnes. In Bangladesh, we had already purchased a grinding plant with an annual capacity of 0.6 million tonnes in 2019. In contrast, we sold our business activities in ­Mauritania in the reporting year. In 2019, we sold our activities in Ukraine, two cement plants and two grinding facilities in Italy, and the white cement plant in Egypt. Excluding these changes to the scope of consolidation, ­cement and clinker sales volumes in 2020 were 2.6% below the previous year. HOME COMPANY SUSTAINABILITY INVESTOR RELATIONS MEDIA CAREER BLOG SOCIAL MEDIA LINKEDIN TWITTER INSTAGRAM YOUTUBE XING CONTACT & NEWSLETTER CONTACT US HOW TO GET TO OUR HEADQUARTERS NEWSLETTER SUSTAINABILITY NEWSLETTER NEWS RSS FEED © HEIDELBERGCEMENT AG IMPRINT LEGAL DISCLAIMER DATA PROTECTION COOKIES COMPLIANCE REPORTING SYSTEM SOCIAL PRIVACY STATEMENT