A Mexican construction materials manufacturer. Has factories in the occupied West Bank and Golan Heights and provides building materials to construction projects in illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank. Divested from its mining activities in occupied Palestinian territory.
Cemex SAB de CV is a multinational producer and distributor of cement, ready-mix concrete, aggregates, and other building materials, headquartered in Mexico. The company’s 2019 revenue was $13 billion.
Cemex’s Israeli subsidiary, Readymix Industries (Israel) Ltd, produces about a third of Israel’s concrete in some 60 factories, including four factories on occupied land, according to the company’s website. In the occupied West Bank, the company operates three factories, in the illegal settlement industrial zones of Atarot, Mevo Horon, and Mishor Adumim. In addition, the company has a concrete factory in Katzrin in the occupied Golan Heights.
Through Readymix Industries, Cemex has provided building materials for the construction of illegal settlements and military infrastructure throughout the occupied West Bank, according to Who Profits. Among other projects, the company has provided concrete for the construction of a wall along the Gilo bridge and for the Jerusalem light rail project in occupied East Jerusalem, as well as for the Huwara and Azzun-Atma military checkpoints in the occupied West Bank. Additionally, the company regularly provides building materials for the construction of illegal settlements in the West Bank, according to Who Profits.
Until 2015, Cemex was also involved in natural resource extraction in the occupied Palestinian territory. The company’s Israeli subsidiary Lime and Stone Production owned a 50% stake in the Yatir Quarry in the occupied West Bank, in a joint venture with Kfar Giladi Quarries. In June 2015, KLP, Norway’s largest life insurance company, divested from Cemex over its operations in the occupied West Bank. Four months later, the company announced it had sold its stake in the Yatir Quarry. However, the company stated it would continue operating the three abovementioned concrete factories located in illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank, falsely claiming these are “legal settlements.” In addition, Cemex's policy statement on operating in occupied territories ignores its activities in the occupied Golan Heights.
- On April 12, 2016, the College Council of the University of Chicago passed a resolution to Divest University funds from apartheid, urging the university “ to withdraw, within the bounds of their fiduciary duty, investments in securities, endowments, mutual funds, and other monetary instruments with holdings in companies profiting from human rights abuses and violations of international law in Palestine, including, Cemex."
- In June 2015 KLP, the largest life insurance company in Norway, decided to divest from Cemex because the company's "operations are associated with violations of fundamental ethical norms."
- Students at UC Los Angeles passed a resolution to divest from Cemex in November 2014, protesting its role “in illegal West Bank settlements.”
- UC Riverside’s student senate passed a resolution in 2014 urging the university to divest from Cemex, which “illegally owns and operates manufacturing plants in West Bank settlements, exploiting Palestinian natural resources in violation of international law.”
- Nordea Bank excluded Cemex in 2013, citing its “extraction of Palestinian natural resources.”
- In November of 2012, UC Irvine’s student senate voted unanimously to divest from Cemex, stating that the company “illegally owns and operates manufacturing plants in West Bank settlements, exploiting Palestinian natural resources in violation of international law.”