"To Maintain Operations, We Need to Develop New Markets and Reduce our Production Costs" - Bernard Kueng, President and Chief Executive Officer, St. Lawrence Cement.

MOUNT ROYAL, QUEBEC--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 14, 1996--ST. LAWRENCE CEMENT (ME, TSE:ST.A) St. Lawrence Cement management met with the employees of the Beauport cement plant this morning to discuss the future of the plant, which has been operating in the heart of the Quebec City metropolitan region for the past forty years.

The President and Chief Executive Officer of St. Lawrence Cement, Bernard Kueng and Alain Ouzilleau, the cement plant's General Manager, explained that recent studies carried out by the Company indicated that the Province of Quebec has considerable excess production capacity.

"The medium and long-term survival of the Beauport cement plant depends on exports, growth of the domestic market and a substantial reduction in our production costs", Mr. Kueng noted. "Overall, the Quebec industry has annual production capacity of 3.5 million tons of cement, whereas local demand is only about 1.6 million tons. There are no indications that demand might increase in the foreseeable future. We're not building any more dams, hospitals, high-rise buildings or roads. In fact, even road renewal and maintenance programs have been cut back".

"Under the circumstances, the logical solution for St. Lawrence Cement, which operates two cement plants in the province of Quebec, one in Joliette and another in Beauport, would simply be, to close one and consolidate all operations in the other", Mr. Kueng went on to say. And if things came to that, we should move our production to Joliette, since our facilities there are more modern, have a higher capacity and use a less expensive manufacturing process".

"Studies and surveys we have conducted in the past few months tell us that there is an export potential for our products, particularly in the U.S. eastern seaboard, where demand is strong. For a number of months, we have been exploring new outlets that would enable us to keep Beauport on-line. The coming months will, therefore, be crucial for the future of the Beauport cement plant," the St. Lawrence Cement President indicated.

Meanwhile, the General Manager of the Beauport cement plant, Alain Ouzilleau, told employees that the development of new markets in the United States would require a substantial reduction of production costs, possibly by as much as 25 percent. "If we don't succeed, countries in South America and Europe will continue supplying the U.S. market".

"However, we are confident we can reach our target by improving our management and manufacturing processes. Talks with our employees and their union representatives are now under way. Every effort will be made to reach an agreement that is acceptable to both sides", Mr. Ouzilleau remarked.

St. Lawrence Cement is a leading producer and supplier of products and services for the construction industry, namely, cement, concrete, aggregates and construction. The Company operates in Canada and on the Eastern seaboard of the United States, and employs a total of 2,500 people.

CONTACT: St. Lawrence Cement Inc.

Nicole Jarry, 514/340-1881

or

Ducharme Perron 

Johanne Pelletier, 418/523-3352