Specialty cement manufacturer Calucem will enter the U.S. market by developing a $35 million manufacturing facility in eastern New Orleans. The Cementos Molins subsidiary is the world’s second-largest producer of calcium aluminate cement.
Calucem plans to develop the facility at a nine-acre site on the Industrial Canal. It is expected to begin operations in the third quarter of 2023.
“Calucem is taking on a new investment that will support our growth and diversification in the U.S. and ensure that we continue to offer high-value products to our global customers,” Calucem President and CEO Yuri Bouwhuis said. “Our choice of Louisiana for our first all-new manufacturing project in the U.S. is due to the availability of strategic raw materials such as limestone and natural gas, access to waterways and skilled labor, and the long history of using specialty cement products in the U.S.”
The Louisiana project will create 70 direct jobs and an estimated 158 indirect jobs. It will be the third calcium aluminate production center under the Spain-based Cementos Molins umbrella, joining Barcelona, Spain and Pula, Croatia.
