29 September 2017
Cementir defends conduct in illegal waste investigation 29 September 2017
Italy: Cementir has defended its conduct in an illegal waste investigation. It expressed ‘full confidence’ in the Prosecutor’s Office of Lecce following the decision by a judge to seize a power plant run by Enel, according to Reuters. The probe is exploring whether Cementir Italia’s Taranto plant purchased ‘illegal’ by-products from Enel and the ILVA steel plant to produce cement. Cementir confirmed that it had regularly purchased fly ash for its Taranto plant but that this ended at the start of 2016. It added that its use of sludge in cement production was covered by an Integrated Environmental Authorisation.
Board of Investments clears Eagle Cement for expansion of Bulacan plant 29 September 2017
Philippines: The Board of Investments (BOI) has approved Eagle Cement’s application to build a third production line at its Bulacan cement plant. The cement producer plans to increase the site’s clinker production capacity to 4.2Mt/yr from 2.8Mt/yr and its cement production capacity to 7.1Mt/yr from 5.1Mt/yr, according to the Philippine Star newspaper. The upgrade has a cost of around US$138m.
The BOI, part of the attached agency of Department of Trade and Industry, has also approved an application by Eagle Cement’s subsidiary South Western Cement Corp. (SWCC) to become a new cement producer on a non-pioneer status but with pioneer incentives.
ICRA downgrades cement demand growth 2017 – 2018 due to slow first half 29 September 2017
India: The credit ratings agency ICRA has downgraded its forecast for cement demand growth to 3.5 – 4% for the 2017 - 2018 financial year due to a slow first half of the year. It blamed the slow first half on a sand shortage in some regions, the implementation of the Real Estate Regulatory Authority and slowed construction activity in the west, according to the Press Trust of India. The agency expects demand to be subdued during the second quarter of the year due to weather and the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST).
However, it forecasts demand to rebound afterwards as housing demand and infrastructure projects pick up. In July 2017 the agency had predicted a growth rate of 5%.
John King Chains buys share in ScanChain 29 September 2017
Denmark: The UK’s John King Chains has purchased a stake in ScanChain. The purchase is in support of a takeover of the business by the sales director Kåre Söderberg, who was one of the original founders of the chain and socket company in 2009. No value for the transaction has been disclosed.
“We see this union as a logical part of our expansion strategy with reciprocal benefits. Through ScanChain we have not only gained access to the Scandinavian market, but have enhanced our commercial and technical expertise within the Group. We have always identified Kåre as one of the key operators in the chain market and an individual who is customer driven, technically competent and ambitious in his plans for the future,” said John King Chains in a statement.
David Wadsworth, the managing director of John King Chains, added that ‘…the alliance between John King and ScanChain comes at a time when there has never been such a high degree of optimism for the future of a long-established British manufacturing business and all those associated with it.’