13 February 2017
Germany: Langley Holdings, the UK-based owner of Claudius Peters, has reported that its subsidiary’s revenue fell by 14% year-on-year to Euro106m in 2016 from Euro124m in 2015. Claudius Peters’ orders on hand rose by 13% to Euro50.3m from Euro57.7m. The plant engineering manufacturer noted that the industries it serves, including cement and gypsum, remain at a ‘low point’ in their business cycle and that capital investment is low.
“The division’s order intake did improve in the final quarter and with commodity prices coming off the bottom there are signs that the climate is improving, although it is too early to call a recovery. In all, the results were satisfactory in a still much subdued sector,” said Langley Holdings chairman Anthony J Langley. He added that poor markets in Brazil and Russia affected the division’s results. However, Claudius Peters China performed ‘quite well’ due to export projects with Chinese contractors and divisions in France, the US, UK, Spain and Italy did well.
LafargeHolcim Montcada i Reixac cement plant to celebrate 100th anniversary in 2017 13 February 2017
Spain: LafargeHolcim’s Montcada i Reixac cement plant in Catalonia is set to celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2017. A number of events will be held throughout the year to mark the centenary of the establishment of the plant by local industrialist Eusebi Güell including an exhibition at the Castellar de n’Hug Cement Museum. LafargeHolcim says that the plant contributed over Euro18m to the local economy in 2016.
Cemex completes sale of Fairborn cement plant to Eagle Materials 13 February 2017
US: Cemex has completed the sale of its Fairborn cement plant in Ohio and a cement terminal in Columbus to Eagle Materials for US$400m. Cemex said proceeds from the sale will be used for debt reduction and general corporate purposes. Bank of America Merrill Lynch acted as financial advisor to the cement producer for the transaction.
AfriSam opens blending and packing plant in Lesotho 13 February 2017
Lesotho: Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili has officially opened AfriSam’s cement blending and packing plant in Maseru. The unit is the cement producer’s first cement plant in the country, according to the Lesotho News Agency. The plant can produce up to 0.2Mt/yr of cement and it has been built at AfriSam’s existing distribution centre.
Dangote Cement building upgrades at Mugher plant in Ethiopia 13 February 2017
Ethiopia: Dangote Cement is building a bagging plant and a third silo at its Mugher cement plant. The US$19m bagging plant will have a capacity of 120 million bags/yr, according to the Ethiopian Reporter newspaper. It is scheduled for completion by July 2017. The silo should be completed by the third quarter of the year.
Deep Kamara, the managing director of Dangote Industries Ethiopia, also said that the company is considering building a second production line in the country. However, procuring spare parts is proving difficult for the plant due to shortages of foreign currency and delays in shipping new parts. The company is expecting help from the government and it needs to spend up to US$15m on spare parts for the plant.
The Mugher cement plant opened in 2015 with a cement production capacity of 2.5Mt/yr. Equipment at the plant was set on fire in late 2016 in a series of riots in the region.
Keerthi Industries starts 2.24MW waste heat recovery unit at plant 13 February 2017
India: Keerthi Industries has started operation of a 2.24MW waste heat recovery unit at its Keerthi cement plant at Mellacheruvu, Nalgonda district in Telangana. The cement producer says that the upgrade cost US$3.9m to buy and install, according to local press. Keerthi Industries operates a 0.6Mt/yr cement plant.
Protestors blockade Semen Indonesia Rembang pant 13 February 2017
Indonesia: Farmers have blocked access to Semen Indonesia’s Rembang cement plant as part of on-going protests against the construction of the unit. Around 250 farmers protested at the site in support of a Supreme Court ruling in October 2016 and a local government order in favour of shutting down the plant, according to the Jakarta Post newspaper. The activists claim that activity has continued at the site.
However, Semen Indonesia denies that is has started operation at the plant saying that its workers are merely ‘taking care of its assets.’ The cement producer says it stopped construction soon after it received the governor's decision to revoke its permit. It added that it had spent US$337m on the plant and that it was 99% complete when the governor issues his decree. 3000 workers were also laid off at the same time.
Cemex sells minority stake in Grupo Cementos de Chihuahua 13 February 2017
Mexico: Cemex is selling a 15.6% stake in Grupo Cementos de Chihuahua (GCC). If all 51,750,000 shares of GCC are sold the cement producer will raise around US$240m in revenue before expenses. Following the sale Cemex will retain a 7.4% direct interest in GCC.
Long Son to open second production line in August 2017 13 February 2017
Vietnam: Long Son plans to open its second production line at its Long Son cement plant in Thanh Hoa in late August 2017. The new line will more than double the plant’s production capacity to 5Mt/yr, according to the Viet Nam News newspaper. The company has spent US$176m on the new line.
PPC and AfriSam resume merger talks 13 February 2017
South Africa: PPC and AfriSam have resumed talks to discuss merging the companies. The cement producers will prepare an assessment on the proposed merger and then report back to their respective shareholders and boards. AfriSam previously proposed a merger with PPC in late 2014 before talks were called off in mid-2015. At that the time the two cement producers controlled about 60% of the local market.