Displaying items by tag: Ivory Coast
Cameroon: A subsidiary of Ivory Coast-based Atlantic Group has signed an agreement with the Cameroon Investment Promotion Agency giving it tax incentives towards building a new cement plant. It plans to build a 1Mt/yr cement plant in the Port of Kribi, according to Business in Cameroon. Construction work on the plant is scheduled to start in 2021 with completion by 2024 at the latest. The project has an investment of around US$70m. Atlantic Group inaugurated the 1.5Mt/yr Société Ciment Côte d'Ivoire (SCCI) near Abidjan, Ivory Coast in January 2021.
Ivory Coast: LafargeHolcim Ivory Coast has appointed Rachid Yousry as its chief executive officer. He succeeds Xavier Saint-Martin-Tillet, who has been in the post since November 2020, according to the Financial Afrik newspaper.
Yousry has worked for LafargeHolcim in a number of supply chain and sales roles since 2011. His last posting was as the Country Commercial & Supply Chain Director for LafargeHolcim Jordan. Prior to working for LafargeHolcim, he held roles at Teleinfo 5, Unilever, AMS Baeshen. Yousry holds a bachelors degree in information technology and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the École des Ponts Business School.
Ivory Coast sets caps on price of cement
19 May 2021Ivory Coast: The Ministry of Commerce and Industry has set caps for the ex-factory and retail price of cement. Maximum prices have been designated for 32.5 and 42.5 grades of Ordinary Portland Cement in both urban and rural areas, according to the Agence de Presse Africaine. The ministry said that arrangements had been made with producers to keep the market supplied. It added that failure to comply with the designated prices would lead to penalties.
A great question was asked at yesterday’s Virtual Global CemTrans Seminar: what impact did the recent blockage of the Suez Canal cause to the cement industry? Luckily, Rahul Sharan from Drewry was on hand discussing freight costs following the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
As most readers will know, the Suez Canal was blocked in late March 2021 when the 200,000dwt Ever Given ran aground, at around six nautical miles from the southern entry of the canal. The ultra large container vessel was subsequently refloated and towed away just under a week later. While this was happening the fate of the ship became a global news story with business analysts totting up the cost of the obstruction. 40 bulk carriers were reported as waiting to transit the waterway the day after the blockage started and some of these were carrying cement. Reporting by the BBC noted that 369 ships were stuck waiting on either side of the blockage on the day before the ship was finally freed. The Suez Canal Authority (SCA) estimated their loss of revenue from the incident at US$14 – 15m/day. Analysts like Allianz placed the cost to the global economy at US$6 - 10bn/day.
In Sharan’s view the blockage of the Suez Canal happened at a potentially risky moment for cement and clinker shipping because there was already congestion in shipping lanes built up on the east coast of South America and around Australia. However, a delay of a week around the canal, followed by the resulting congestion dispersing quickly over the following days, does not seem to have had any major impact so far.
Sharan’s presentation at Global CemTrans also included a summary of cement shipping. The key takeaways were that clinker shipping overtook cement shipping in 2019 with a connected increase in fleets investing in handymax-sized vessels. He also pointed out the key cement and clinker importing countries in 2019, before the coronavirus pandemic started causing market disruption. For cement: the US, the Philippines and Singapore. For clinker: China, Bangladesh and the Philippines. Turkey and Vietnam were the biggest exporters for both in that year.
The Ever Given incident has highlighted the continued importance of the Suez Canal for global trade for commodities. Goods still need to be physically moved around, however much stuff we digitise. It also contrasts with the issues that the Egyptian cement sector has faced in recent years such as production overcapacity. While domestic cement plants have struggled to maintain their profits, plenty of cement carriers have been transiting through the Isthmus of Suez. Local producers may well have gazed at them and wondered where they were going.
One of them, Al-Arish Cement Company, took action in this direction this week with its first export shipment of clinker. The Clipper Isadora ship disembarked East Port Said port for Ivory Coast. Future shipments are planned for West Africa, Canada, the US and Europe. Ship tracking reveals that the Clipper Isadora has not taken the Suez Canal on this occasion.
The proceedings pack for the Virtual CemTrans Seminar 2 2021 is available to buy now
Atlantic Group plans 1Mt/yr cement plant in Port of Kribi
17 February 2021Cameroon: Atlantic Group is planning to build a 1Mt/yr integrated cement plant in the Port of Kribi. Business in Cameroon has reported that the company has received all necessary permissions for the project. The group’s only asset in Cameroon is the 48,000t/yr Atlantic Cocoa plant in the Port of Kribi, commissioned in 2020. Parent company Ivory Coast-based Atlantic Group recently inaugurated the 1.5Mt/yr Société Ciment Côte d'Ivoire (SCCI) near Abidjan in Ivory Coast.
Kribi’s five existing cement plants have a total production capacity of 5.8Mt/yr.
Société Ciment Côte d'Ivoire inaugurates grinding plant near Abidjan
03 February 2021Ivory Coast: Société Ciment Côte d'Ivoire (SCCI) has inaugurated a 1.5Mt/yr grinding plant in the PK24 industrial zone of Akoupé-Zeudji near Abidjan. The subsidiary of Atlantic Financial Group spent US$110m on the project and it is expected to create 300 direct jobs, according to Koaci Media. Minister of Trade and Industry Souleymane Diarrassouba attended the event.
Ivory Coast: LafargeHolcim Côte d'Ivoire commissioned a new clinker discharge equipment at its Abidjan cement plant in June 2020. Aumund France supplied the equipment. It consists of a 75,000t-capacity silo, two Aumund KZB pan conveyors with ten gravity discharge gates, four Aumund GF belt conveyors and a dedusting system comprising five filters, as well as the complete electrics and automation package for the new discharge system. The supplier says that it also supervised installation and commissioning of the equipment.
GICA to export of 40,000t of clinker to Dominican Republic
30 October 2020Algeria: The Ain El Kebira (SCAEK) cement plant near Setif, part of the Industrial Cement Group of Algeria (GICA), has launched an operation to export 40,000t of clinker to the Dominican Republic. The company has already been marketed its products in Senegal, Ivory Coast, Guinea, Peru and Brazil, according to the Algeria Press Service. SCAEK has already exported 0.55Mt of clinker to countries in Africa and South America. The cement producer plans to export 0.75Mt of clinker in 2020.
LafargeHolcim celebrates Ebimpé Olympic stadium inauguration
07 October 2020Ivory Coast: LafargeHolcim Côte d'Ivoire says that it is proud to have contributed 60,000t of its Bélier Extra cement to the construction of the Ebimpé Olympic Stadium. Chief executive officer (CEO) Serge Gbotta said, “It is a real honour for all our teams to see their products accomplish international wonders. This is what we are working hard for. We are satisfied to see that, for its quality, Bélier Extra cement remains undeniably the first choice of construction and public works players.”
Nicknamed the ‘Arc de Triomphe,’ the Olympic Stadium will be the official home of the Ivory Coast national football team.
Ivory Coast: LafargeHolcim Ivory Coast has appointed Serge Gbotta as its new managing director. He succeeds Xavier Saint-Martin-Tillet, who has become the head of the West Africa region of the group. Gbotta was previously the Commercial and Logistics Director at LafargeHolcim Ivory Coast since 2015. Prior to this he has worked at Maersk, Air Liquide, DHL and ADM. Gbotta trained as a civil engineer at the ENSTP Yamoussoukro in Abijan. He also holds an MBA from the China Europe International Business School (CEIBS).