CHICAGO (AP) — Fitch Ratings on Tuesday downgraded the debt of Cemex SAB de CV after the Mexican cement producer initiated talks with banks about easing terms of its loans.The company lowered its foreign and local currency issuer default ratings to “B” from “BB” due to the Monterrey-based company’s “high leverage, deteriorating economic conditions, poor liquidity and limited access to the capital markets,” the agency said.

Fitch cited “steep declines” in the company’s fourth-quarter sales volumes as well as the devaluation of the Mexican peso, British pound and Euro versus the U.S. dollar. 

Further, ratings have been placed on “Rating Watch Negative” because of the challenges Cemex, the world’s third-largest cement producer, faces in trying arrange financing that will let it meet debt coming due over the next few months, Fitch said.

Cemex’s debt maturities during the second, third and fourth quarter of this year are $473 million, $428 million and $2.2 billion, respectively. In 2010 and 2011, Cemex faces debt amortizations of $3.8 billion and $7.8 billion, respectively.

“If successful (in servicing its debt), Cemex’s risk will remain high until it reaches a broader agreement with the banks that will allow it to lengthen the maturity schedule of a significant portion of its debt that comes due in 2009, 2010 and 2011,” the agency said.

At the end of last year, Cemex had total adjusted debt of $23 billion and cash and marketable securities of $993 million.

In afternoon trading, the company’s American Depositary Shares rose 58 cents, or 14.4 percent, to $4.60, as the broader markets surged.