When Cementos Fortaleza’s new factory in Yucatán is completed next year, cement prices could become more competitive.
Cement in Yucatán is the second-most expensive in the country, only behind Baja California.
The upstart company was founded in 2014 after decades of a monopoly under Cemex.
Cementos Fortaleza is part of Carlos Slim’s Grupo Elementia, a construction consortium with a presence in nine countries and 26 plants.
Representatives of the Mexico City-based company met last week with Gov. Rolando Zapata Bello, with the objective of building a mill in Progreso, with a tentative opening date of July 2019.
The new plant will be built on a seven-hectare plot at kilometer six of the Progreso-Mérida highway. It will receive already-processed “clinker” — limestone and clay that has been compressed and is ready to be milled — at the nearby Puerto de Altura, the industrial port on the Gulf of Mexico.
With an investment of 30 million dollars, the Molienda de Progreso Plant will have a production capacity of 250,000 tons per year during its first stage. Additionally, it has budgeted another 30 million dollars to expand further in the future.
The company claims that the plant will be environmentally friendly, with no gas emissions or open quarry.
They also promise 50 direct and 150 indirect jobs.
