Turkey's Medcem sends first cement shipments to its new terminals in Europe

Turkey's leading cement producer and exporter, Medcem, has shipped its first cement ship to its new terminal in Antwerp and will soon load a ship for its new terminal in Trieste, Italy, Enver Celikbas, business development and investment director at Medcem, told Platts, part of S&P Global Energy, in an interview Dec. 1.

The 20,000-metric-ton CEM I 52.5 N cement shipment to Antwerp is scheduled to discharge on Dec. 8, while the ship to Trieste with 5,000 mt of CEM I 52.5 N cement will discharge during the week of Dec. 15, Celikbas said.

"Antwerp is our first terminal investment in Europe, and Trieste is the second. Hopefully, we will have a third one soon," Celikbas stated. "In the UK, we already have three terminals -- Sheerness, Glasgow, and Liverpool -- and we will be sending our first cement vessel to Glasgow at the beginning of 2026."

Celikbas expects Medcem to export nearly 70,000 to 100,000 mt of cement to Antwerp and 60,000 to 80,000 mt to Trieste in 2026.

The terminal investments align with the company's strategy, Celikbas said.

"We are looking to become a more vertically integrated company, which helps us manage our costs, operations, and supply," he said. "It's like a hedging strategy that we initiated after commissioning our new 9,000 mt per day kiln. Our primary market remains the US, but if there are any extra volumes from our plant, we can allocate them to Europe, which is also a growing market."

Medcem will also complete an upgrade to its clinker kilns at the end of 2026, which will add to its supply, Celikbas said. "Plus, we are in search of alternative supplementary cementitious materials sources both domestically and abroad, which indirectly means another boost in supply."

Celikbas confirmed that the supply will continue to come from Medcem's plant in Turkey. "We don't intend to change the source unless - for some reason - it doesn't make financial, technical, logistical or operational sense to supply to either one of these locations from Turkey," he added.

The company has already invested nearly Eur15 million in developing the terminals in Europe and is actively seeking additional investments. "We are continuously searching and negotiating various projects and hope to sign for our third terminal in Europe very soon."

Platts, part of S&P Global Energy, last assessed the CEMDEX Turkey price at $53/mt FOB on Nov. 27.