India: Kerneos India plans to complete the construction of its US$18.9m, greenfield 30,000t/yr calcium aluminate cement plant in Visakhapatnam within the next two years. The ground-breaking ceremony was held on 20 May 2015. The Vizag plant will be Kerneos' 12th manufacturing plant globally. Three of its plants are located in France, three are in China, one is in the UK and one is in the US.

Calcium aluminate cement is specialty cement used mostly by manufacturers of refractories. Demand for the specialty cement hinges directly on the growth of the steel industry. Segi P Idicula, managing director of Kerneos (India and Middle East), said that the Vizag plant's capacity would be taken up as the market grows. India currently consumes 50,000t/yr of calcium aluminate cement as refractory binder. Kerneos supplies about 10,000t/yr to Indian refractory makers from its French and Chinese plants.

Idicula said the Indian Government is aiming at a total steel production of 250Mt/yr by 2025. "At this rate, the Indian refractory industry will almost triple in size and there will be a corresponding rise in demand for calcium aluminate binders. We expect the refractory binder market to double from the current 50,000t/yr by 2020," said Idicula.

Currently in India, there are several small-scale merchant producers and several refractory producers manufacturing the binders for captive use. Kerneos, which has 30 customers in India, expects to double its market share in this segment in the next five years. Pierre Baillagou, Kerneos director (Industrial) said that the company plans to sell the entire production from its Vizag unit for the domestic refractory industry. "However, we do not rule out exports from this plant, as we have a strong market in South East Asia, the Middle East and Sri Lanka," he added.