Displaying items by tag: Government
Canada The Quebec government has said that it has no plans to invest further into the McInnis Cement plant on the Gaspé Peninsula. Dominique Anglade, the province's Economy Minister, said on 29 July 2016 that she was confident that the US$854m project would be profitable and there will be no further investment on the part of the government, according to the Globe and Mail newspaper. Key investors, including the Bombardier-Beaudoin family and the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, are facing additional costs of up to US$350m, according to sources cited by the newspaper.
The provincial government says it has taken action since learning of the cost overrun, including securing guarantees regarding the financial package needed in the short term to ensure completion of the project. Other unspecified ‘additional conditions’ have also been attached to the government's financial contribution. Quebec is a major equity partner in the project, with a US$78m investment. It also provided a US$194m loan on commercial terms.
The cement plant has a planned launch of operations set for spring 2017.
Sri Lankan government queries sale of Holcim Lanka
24 June 2016Sri Lanka: The Industry and Commerce Ministry has queried the sale of Holcim Lanka, LafargeHolcim’s business on the island. Industry and Commerce Ministry Secretary TMKB Tennakoon contacted Holcim Lanka in March 2016 to point out that the government has not benefitted from deals with the cement producer to allow it to build a quarry and that it can control attempts to sell some of its assets, according to the Daily News newspaper.
Tennakoon has raised the issue that the Sri Lankan government is not making profit out of a lease agreement, started in 1993, which gave Holcim Lanka mineral rights to a quarry in Aruwakkalu, Puttalam. In addition the cement producer was granted a 12-year tax holiday on funds borrowed from within Sri Lanka, the ministry claims. The ministry has informed Holcim Lanka that it is in the process of evaluating the terms and conditions of the agreement ‘in order to gain more benefits to the industry and the country’ and warns Holcim Lanka that in the terms of Section 4(b) of the agreement, Holcim Lanka cannot transfer or sub-let the premises without the consent of the government-owned Cement Corporation.
LafargeHolcim announced that it was leaving the cement business in Sri Lanka in early June 2016. The Industry and Commerce Ministry was expressed its interest in buying the local company.
Asia Cement chases missing mine money
21 June 2016Thailand: Asia Cement has arranged negotiations with the Ministry of Industry to retrieve a US$8.5m deposit placed as a guarantee for a limestone mine licence application. The cement producer was granted a licence to operate a limestone mine in Nakhon Si Thammarat province in 1997. However, an environmental order nullified the licence and allowed the government to keep the deposit, according to the Bangkok Post.
"The government and Asia Cement have set up legal teams to negotiate and seek solutions that are acceptable to both sides," said Chat Hongtiamchant, director-general of the ministry's Department of Primary Industries and Mines. The subsidiary of Italcementi also wants to drop the mine project due to a change in the market demand.
Dungsam Cement waiting for Indian market to pick up
21 June 2016Bhutan: Dungsam Cement is waiting for the market to improve in India following announcements of infrastructure development from the government. The latest budget in the neighbouring country is expected to boost demand for cement and steel in the north-eastern region of India and in Bhutan. The cement producer made a loss of US$10.9m in its last financial year, according to the Bhutan Broadcasting Service.
“We are eagerly waiting for the release of the development budget. We have 593 hours worth of cement silos full and waiting to be dispatched in the northeast,” said Dungsam Cement’s CEO, Dorji Norbu.
Sri Lanka: The Industry and Commerce Ministry has expressed its interest in buying the local operations of LafargeHolcim. Government sources have said that discussions are now on-going within the administration. The multinational cement producer announced in early June 2016 that it was selling its subsidiary Holcim Lanka. The company was originally state-owned before it was privatised.
"The government is willing to negotiate to buy it at a reasonable price. This is the only integrated cement plant in Sri Lanka. The limestone quarry in Puttalam belongs to the Cement Corporation and it had been leased out to Holcim," said a spokesman of the ministry quoted by the Daily News newspaper. He added that no final decision on the matter has been taken yet. The government also hopes that, if it successfully purchased the company, it could reduce the price of cement in the country.
Local press reports that seven bidders have made offers for Holcim Lanka. These include companies from UAE, Indonesia, Thailand, China and Sri Lanka. Holcim Lanka’s assets include two packing plants in Galle and Trincomalee, a cement plant in Puttalam and a cement grinding plant in Galle.
Pakistan: The All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association (APCMA) has warned that an increase in Federal Excise Duty on cement may increase the levels of illegal imports of Iranian cement. The increase in the tax was announced in the 2016 – 2017 federal budget. Instead, the association wants the government to reduce taxes on cement to promote local dispatches, according to local media.
According to the latest data, issued by the APCMA, the cement industry dispatched 35.5Mt of cement between July 2015 and May 2016, an increase of 106% year-on-year from the previous period. However, exports to countries other than India, fell during this period.
Sri Lanka: South Korean conglomerate AFKO Group GMEX has expressed interest in reopening the Kankesanthurai cement plant located in the Northern Province of Sri Lanka, the country’s Industry and Commerce Ministry has said, according to the Daily Mirror.
“AFKO specialises in cement projects. We are keen to partner in the Kankesanthurai Cement Project and are ready to enter with US$450m as a start. We shall also bring in all the necessary machinery and technology and can start from scratch. We only need Sri Lanka’s land and labour,” said AFKO Group GMEX chairman Keun Young Lee at a meeting with Industry and Commerce Minister Rishad Bathiudeen in Colombo. Lee also expressed interest in cement production elsewhere in Sri Lanka.
AFKO intends to start a feasibility study shortly. Ssangyong C&T is the favoured engineering company to start construction at the site. AFKO Group, which merged with Korea’s multinational Hyundai Group in 2008, runs its own construction and cement projects in Africa and elsewhere.
The Kankesanthurai cement plant started operations in 1950 under the Department of Industries and was converted to a public corporation in 1956, being named as Kankesan Cement Works. It closed in 1991 due the civil war. At that time it had a production capacity of 115,000t/yr. In 2011 – 2012 Sri Lanka Cement Corporation and Lanka Cement Limited were planning to resume bagging at the plant. Previously, UAE-based cement company Ras Al Khaimah had been linked to a US$100m investment plan in the plant.
India: The Heavy Industry Minister Anant Geete has arranged a meeting with officials of the Telangana state government and the Cement Corporation of India (CCI) to discuss the possibility of opening the closed CCI cement plant in Adilabad. The meeting will be held in June 2016 at Hyderabad or New Delhi, according the Hindu newspaper.
The meeting is the second occasion that ministers from Telangana have met with Geete to lobby for the reopening of the CCI plant. Options being considered include privatising the plant or retaining control by the government. The cement plant has a production capacity of 4Mt/yr.
Cement Manufacturers Association of the Philippines lobbies for government projects to use blended cement
09 May 2016Philippines: The Cement Manufacturers Association of the Philippines (CEMAP) has asked the government to use more blended cement in its infrastructure projects to meet its emissions targets. “In the Philippines, the private sector uses more than 80% of blended cement. The government, on the contrary, does the opposite. It uses 80% Portland cement,” said CEMAP president Ernesto Ordoñez in an interview with local press.
In October 2015 the Philippines submitted to the United Nations its initial commitments to address climate change that included a 70% reduction of carbon emissions by 2030. The reduction is targeted to come from the energy, transport, waste, forestry and industry sectors.
Italcementi workers prepare for a national strike
25 April 2016Italy: Unions Feneal Uil, Filca Cisl and Cgil Fillea, representing Italcementi cement workers, are preparing to go on strike on 29 April 2016 in protest against plans by HeidelbergCement to cut jobs when it takes over the Italian cement producer. The German cement manufacturer said that it expects that up to 260 workers will be made redundant and another 170 workers will be offered relocation from Italcementi’s base in Bergamo, according to its integration plan.
The unions met with the government on 14 April 2016 and subsequently agreed to go on strike. The unions have presented a counter-proposal to decrease the number of redundancies, including asking HeidelbergCement to confirm that it will maintain production sites and employment levels through the company integration period until 2020. Other suggestions include requests for government-union review of the plan, maintaining a technical centre in Bergamo and providing an additional social security plan for the entire group. The unions will meet with the government next at the beginning of May 2016.