Cement Industry Issues Statement: "Production at Risk of Halt if Environmental Regulations Tighten"

Cement Industry Issues Joint Statement on Strengthened Nitrogen Oxide Emission Regulations
"Agrees on the Need for Reduction Facilities, Requests Grace Period Until Technology Verification and Application"

The domestic cement industry, which is suffering from a double burden of a sharp decline in cement shipments and a surge in inventory due to a prolonged construction recession, has expressed concerns over the government's regulations to drastically reduce nitrogen oxide emissions and has called for a relaxation of the regulatory standards.

Hanil Hyundai Cement Yeongwol Plant.
Photo by Asia Economy DB

This follows the government's legislative notice on the 13th regarding the partial amendment of the "Special Act on Air Quality Improvement in Air Management Zones," which includes a provision that cement companies in the Chungbuk region must gradually reduce nitrogen oxide emissions from 135 ppm in 2025 to 110 ppm by 2029.

The Korea Cement Association, whose members include major domestic cement companies, held a meeting on the 24th attended by representatives from seven domestic cement companies to discuss countermeasures against the government's strengthened regulations and issued a joint statement demanding the relaxation of nitrogen oxide (NOx) emission regulation standards.

In the statement, the domestic cement industry stated that even if all expected net profits this year were invested in equipment improvements to reduce environmental impact, it would still be insufficient. They emphasized that if the standards are tightened to a level that requires installing high-efficiency nitrogen oxide reduction technologies whose applicability and effectiveness have not been fully verified, compliance with the regulatory standards would be fundamentally impossible.

The industry requested that, since the strengthening of regulatory standards without reflecting the industry's realities could ultimately lead to production halts, the current reduction equipment should be operated at maximum efficiency and sophistication to meet the regulatory standards first. They also asked for a postponement of the timing for tightening regulations until the technology verification of high-efficiency nitrogen oxide reduction facilities is completed and their practical application is feasible.

The cement industry stated, "We agree on the necessity of reducing nitrogen oxide generated during the production process," and added, "We have been continuously making internal efforts to reduce emissions and ultimately recognize the need to introduce high-efficiency nitrogen oxide reduction facilities."

However, the industry argued, "The recently announced legislative bill is an emission regulation that does not sufficiently reflect the realities of the domestic cement industry, such as the applicability of pollution prevention facilities."

An association official said, "We are currently optimizing the efficiency of existing reduction equipment and continuously undertaking various reduction efforts, such as modifying production facilities to forms with lower nitrogen oxide emissions," and added, "The biggest concern in the industry is that if the high-efficiency nitrogen oxide reduction facilities, which are known to be possessed only by some countries like Germany, are pushed forward without clear verification or understanding of their effectiveness, it is uncertain whether the expected effects can be achieved even after large-scale investments."

At the meeting, the CEOs agreed to propose two requests: first, to relax the 2029 Best Available Control Technology (BACT) standard concentration under the Air Management Zone Act (Chungbuk region) to 120 ppm by realizing it through the advancement of the currently applied Selective Non-Catalytic Reduction (SNCR) technology; and second, to apply special exceptions to the nitrogen oxide emission limit standards (151 ppm) for integrated permit sites (Gangwon region).

The cement industry plans to promptly deliver the statement issued that day to the National Assembly and the government and strongly request a reconsideration of the legislative notice (draft) in order to maintain the foundation of the national key industry.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.