Displaying items by tag: Plant
China: Jiangxi Wannianqing Cement’s net profit in 2019 was US$197m, representing a 20% year-on-year increase from US$164m. Reuters has reported that on 15 November 2019 Jiangxi Wannianqing Cement paid US$82.6m for a lease and limestone exploration rights for land in De’an County, Jiangxi Province, previously held by Fushan Cement. On 25 June 2019 the company received US$23.3m in government compensation for the relocation of its Wannian cement plant.
Indian producers pull plug on operations
24 March 2020India: Several cement producers have responded to the coronavirus pandemic with plant closures. Reuters has reported that India Cements has temporarily closed all of its plants. JK Lakshmi Cement has suspended cement production at its 4.2Mt/yr integrated plant in Jaykaypuram, Rajasthan and at three grinding plants. JK Lakshmi subsidiary Udaipur Cement Works has shut its 1.6Mt/yr integrated Udaipur plant, also in Rajasthan.
Dalmia Bharat refractory production subsidiary Dalmia-OCL’s CEO Sameer Dagpaal told the Business Standard newspaper that he expected the virus’ impact on the company to be ‘relatively limited,’ with a slowdown in demand from the cement sector lasting at most ‘a couple of months.’ He noted that there had been ‘some minor supply-side disruptions relating to a shortage of raw materials from China.’
On 24 March 2020 the all-India total number of coronavirus cases crossed 500, with nine dead, according to Al Jazeera. 200 cases are in the western states of Maharashtra and Kerala.
North Korean plant ‘commissioned in a week’
23 March 2020North Korea: Local press says that the Sangwon Cement Complex in North Hwanghae Province has reported an upsurge in production, apparently making a record 10,000t/month of cement, its highest production level ever.
Chief engineer Yun Song Chol was quoted as saying that this had been made possible by ‘prioritising science and technology’ and ensuring the operation of equipment ‘at full capacity in accordance with the completion of modernisation at the end of 2019.’ Following the works, the line was reportedly commissioned in just a week.
Kunda Nordic Tsement to close plant
19 March 2020Estonia: Germany-based HeidelbergCement’s subsidiary Kunda Nordic Tsement has announced the planned closure of its 0.8Mt/yr integrated Kunda plant in Kunda, Lääne-Viru County in March 2020. Business World Magazine has reported the plant closure will result in 80 redundancies. The company has stated the reason for the closure as being that the plant’s equipment, which produces cement by the wet method, is economically unviable due to its CO2 intensity.
The price of EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) emissions permits fell to Euro15.24/t of CO2 on 18 March 2020, down by 30% from Euro21.71/t on 18 March 2020.
News roundup
18 March 2020With events moving fast in Europe with regard to the on-going health crisis, here are a few threads to consider from the cement industry news this week.
Firstly, there have been two solar power stories over the last week in North America. Grupo Argos said that it had installed a 10.6MW solar power plant at Cementos Argos’ Piedras Azules cement plant in Comayagua. Then US-based Alamo Cement Company was reported to have signed a contract with Renergetica to build a solar power plant at its integrated plant in San Antonio, Texas. Global Cement has looked at this topic on and off over the years from the steady addition of photovoltaic (PV) solar plants around the world to supply electricity to cement plants to more ambitious plans such as research into using concentrated solar power to start powering creating clinker directly. These two latest PV stories follow projects in El Salvador and Cyprus so far this year. We’re not going to comment now on the overall progress the cement industry is making towards moving away from fossil fuels but the general trend is encouraging.
Next, there are on-going investments and upgrade projects being announced. Germany’s KHD revealed on 17 March 2020 that is building a new raw mill and pyroprocessing line for an ACC plant in India. FCT combustion recently announced that it has won a deal to supply Titan Cement in the US with an upgrade to a kiln line to natural gas. Buzzi Unicem’s SLK Cement in Russia has agreed to co-process solid municipal waste at its Sukholozhskcement plant. South Africa’s PPC has invested in a pneumatic offloading facility and a silo for its George Depot cement terminal in the Western Cape. These will have likely been agreed before the global coronavirus outbreak but they are reminders that some level of capital expenditure by cement companies is happening.
In China the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said this week that the domestic cement sector’s net profit grew by 20% year-on-year to US$26.6bn in 2019. With this in mind the first quarter results for 2020 from cement producers in China will make essential reading for producers from elsewhere around the world wondering what to expect. However, a recent interview with the president of Huaxin Cement, a company based in Hubei province at the epicentre of the outbreak, revealed that despite the short term economic disruption from the quarantine the company was expecting a rapid economic rebound after April 2020 provided that there is a suitable government stewardship. He also mentioned the key role the company was playing in disposing of clinical waste. As such it was hoping for tax breaks to support continuing incineration and the advancement of co-processing in general.
Finally, also on the health crisis, many cement industry events have been cancelled or postponed as work practices change including those organised by Global Cement. We’re taking our events online in the short term as virtual conferences with opportunities for information exchange and networking. We encourage as many of you as possible to register.
ACC orders new production line from KHD
18 March 2020India: KHD’s subsidiaries Humboldt Wedag India and Humboldt Wedag have signed a deal with LafargeHolcim’s subsidiary ACC to build a new raw meal grinding unit and a pyroprocessing line for an existing cement plant. The contracts also include the supply and installation of the electrical and instrumentation package for the entire cement plant. The entire contract package is worth over Euro35m.
Argos installs solar power plant at Comayagua plant
13 March 2020Honduras: Colombia-based Grupo Argos energy subsidiary Celsia has announced that it has installed a 10.6MW solar power plant at Cementos Argos’ 1.0Mt/yr integrated Piedras Azules cement plant in Comayagua. Renewables Now News has reported that the 32,000-panel plant on the roof of the Piedras Azules plant will generate 20% of its operating power needs. Celsia says that the solar plant, its first in Honduras, will reduce Cementos Argos’ annual CO2 emissions by 10,000t/yr.
Successful test run of new kiln at Entreprise des Ciments et Dérivés d'El Chellif plant
11 March 2020Algeria: Fives has reported that it has installed and produced a batch of clinker with a new 6000t/day FCB kiln line at Entreprise des Ciments et Dérivés d'El Chellif (ECDE)’s integrated 1.0Mt/yr Chlef cement plant. When commissioned, the line will bring the plant’s capacity to 3.2Mt/yr.
Argentina: Loma Negra’s total comprehensive income in 2019 was US$61.8m, up by 3.7% year-on-year from US$59.6m in 2018. Its revenue fell by 15% to US$147m from US$173m in 2018. The company said that this was due to decreased demand in Argentina, where its cement, masonry and lime sales declined by 11% year-on-year to 1.28Mt of products from 1.44Mt in 2018, with bulk sales falling further than bagged. Profit growth was hampered by non-recurrent costs from cost-control and streamlining initiatives.
Loma Negra CEO Sergio Faifman said, “Argentina's business suffered more in 2019 than previously expected, however we were able to thrive and present results that we can feel proud of.” He lobbied the new government to adopt policies to ‘re-establish financial stability and economic growth.’
An expansion to Loma Negra’s 1.7Mt/yr integrated L’Amali plant is set to bring the plant’s capacity to 2.4Mt/yr when commissioned in mid-2020.
Progreso publishes Panama plans
10 March 2020Panama: Guatemala-based Cemento Progreso, which acquired Cemento Interoceanico on 21 November 2019, has shared plans to expand its 0.25Mt/yr La Chorrera plant to 0.3Mt/yr production capacity. Noticias Financieras News has reported that the company will also establish three new concrete plants, in David, Chiriquí province, Columbus, Columbus province, and Tocumen, Panama province. Through these it hopes to serve major infrastructure projects such as the construction of a fourth Panama canal bridge and to increase its cement market share from 10%.