2026 continues to be a year for unenviable records in the UK. Where the Summer brought us (and much of Europe) dangerously high record temperatures, the Autumn now brings record fuel prices.
Indeed, it was only a couple of days ago that the RAC announced that the average price for diesel in the UK had risen to dizzying new heights of 199.18p/litre. And remember, that’s just the average – based on my own experience, I can testify that it’s not hard to find diesel selling at comfortably over 200p/litre. For World Cement’s American readers, that’s US$10/gal., give or take a couple of cents, making the US average of US$6.30/gal. look like very good value in comparison. And there’s a chance it could get much worse – at least for the UK which imports more than 30% of its diesel from the US – as the Trump administration gives serious thought to imposing a diesel export ban.
A lone ray of sunshine through this cloud of gloomy news is President Trump’s statement back on 10 September that “the war’s going to end immediately after the [midterm] election”. I’ve marked the date on my calendar.
Anyway, what does any of this have to do with cement? Well, those of us now gritting our teeth when filling up the car are getting just a taste of what UK cement producers have been enduring for a while. The UK’s industrial electricity prices are amongst the highest in the developed world with medium size consumers paying around 90% more than those in EU14 countries, and large and very large consumers paying a premium of as much as 130%.
Without wanting to sound overly hyperbolic, it’s not too far off becoming an existential issue for UK producers. Much like how many drivers are now thinking twice about whether a journey is strictly necessary, UK cement producers are having to weigh up whether they can afford to invest in new, more efficient equipment and fund costly decarbonisation efforts. All while imports made more cheaply (and often under less stringent carbon regimes) continue to rise, and now account for over 30% of UK consumption.
The Mineral Products Association (MPA), the industry association that represents UK cement producers has, as you might expect, been calling on the government to take action. Chris Leese, Executive Chair of the MPA stated: “We really need the Government to address the underlying reasons so many heavy domestic industries are facing such existential challenges. UK industrial energy prices have been uncompetitive for many years, and we have been outpaced by the EU on key policy areas such as the CBAM and carbon capture, leaving domestic markets vulnerable to higher-carbon imports.”
There’s really far too much going on with this topic to cover it properly in the space allocated to this Comment (even if you remove my ramblings on diesel prices), so it’s a good thing that you have the World Cement Podcast to guide you through it all!
I recently had the pleasure of speaking with the MPA’s Senior Director for Cement & Lime, Martin Casey, where we explored all of these issues and more. The episode should be available on all main podcast plaforms soon: www.worldcement.com/podcasts – Happy listening.
