Displaying items by tag: lime

US/China: The Office of the US Trade Representative has started implementing a 10% tariff on mineral and other products from China, including cement, following a consultation period. Mineral products affected by the proposed tariffs of interest to the cement industry include limestone flux, quicklime, slaked lime, gypsum, anhydrite, clinkers of Portland, aluminous, slag, supersulphate and similar hydraulic cements, white Portland cement, Portland cement, aluminous cement, slag cement, refractory cements, additives for cement, cement based building materials and more.

The latest tariff list follows an earlier decision by the US government to tax imports from China worth US$34bn that came into force in early July 2018.

UK: Refractory producer RHI Magnesita says that its cement and lime segment was ‘flat’ in the first half of 2018. It blamed this on on-going low capacity utilisation in China and Brazil and ‘some’ market share losses due to its prices. The adjusted sales revenue of its Industrial Division, including cement and lime, rose by 14.3% year-on-year to Euro413m in the first half of 2018 from Euro362m in the same period of 2017. Overall, the company reported a 24.6% increase in revenue to Euro1.51bn from Euro1.21bn.

In a separate release RHI Magnesita subsidiary Magnesita said that the company’s revenue rose by 81.6% to US$133m. This was attributed to sales to the cement business in North America and higher deliveries in Europe in 2018. However, Magnesita’s services business suffered from a poor cement market in Brazil.

Azerbaijan: In the first seven months of 2018, Azerbaijan produced 1.92Mt of cement, a 21.6% increase compared to the same period of 2017. The country also produced 17,000t of lime (a 27.3% increase) and 811,100t of finished concrete (an increase of 2.2 times).

China/US: China’s Ministry of Commerce has proposed placing retaliatory tariffs on products from the US, including cement. The list covers 5207 items and proposes adding import taxes of up to 25% on them. It includes clinker, white cement, limestone, quicklime, slaked lime, gypsum, refractory products and cement packaging machinery. The ministry said that the new tariffs will take effect at a date to be announced later on.

Poland: Fives FCB has released more information about an upgrade to a limestone grinding workshop for Lhoist Bukowa. In late May 2018 it signed an acceptance certificate with the lime producer for a FCB TSV Classifier 1400 HF. The classifier was selected to close a circuit consisting in a ball mill in open circuit. This FCB TSV Classifier 1400 HF is the third one ordered to Fives by Lhoist Bukowa.

Germany: Hermann Trollius has purchased a used MPS 125 A type mill as part of a capacity expansion and has additionally ordered a selection of new equipment from Gebr. Pfeiffer. The company operates a lime and crushed stone works at Lauterhofen in Bavaria. It produces limestone and dolomite for use in the building, steel, glass, sugar and animal feed industries, as well as for agricultural applications.

Gebr. Pfeiffer will assist Hermann Trollius in setting up the entire grinding plant, taking maintenance measures on the MPS mill and coordinating the delivery of the additional plant equipment. Two distribution table SUT 2800 type separators will be supplied by Gebr. Pfeiffer along with a TRT Triplex dryer with a length of 3.15m and a diameter of 2000mm to be used for drying dolomite, which has a moisture of 4 - 11%. The dryer will have a new hot gas generator of the type HMG 900 for natural gas firing. The hot gas generator to be used for the mill will be of the HMG 800 type.

The new machines will be on the site in early November 2018 so that the customer’s new plant will go online in early 2019 at the latest.

UK: Tarmac plans to restructure the distribution model for its cement and lime division. Following a strategic review it will move to a regional model for both bulk and packed cement distribution, which have previously operated on a national basis. Tarmac’s own fleet operations will handle around 50% of bulk cement and 20% of packed cement distribution, supported by five regional distribution providers selected through a procurement process.

“Our supply chain and logistics operations are crucial to maintaining Tarmac Cement and Lime’s position as the UK’s market leader. The new regional transport operating model will provide enhanced resilience, flexibility, service, cost and safety for our customers, who trust us to deliver the products they need to realise major projects,” said Mike Eberlin, managing director at Tarmac Cement and Lime.

Tarmac Cement and Lime’s regional distribution partners will be engaged on new five-year logistics contracts effective from December 2018. They are Abbey Logistics (bulk cement – Scotland), Pollocks (packed cement – Scotland & North), Lomas Distribution (bulk and packed cement – Central), Wincanton (bulk and packed cement – South West), Stobarts (bulk and packed cement – South East) and Proctors (packed cement – Barnstone).

Tarmac’s Lime & Powders operation will remain fully subcontracted on a national basis to Lomas Distribution (bulk lime and powders and lime tippers) and RR Andrews (powder tipper operations).

There will be no change to customer order arrangements.

US/China: The Office of the US Trade Representative has proposed placing a 10% tariff on mineral and other products from China including cement. The list includes over 600 items and it will come into force following a period for public comment in August 2018.

Mineral products affected by the proposed tariffs of interest to the cement industry include limestone flux, quicklime, slaked lime, gypsum, anhydrite, clinkers of Portland, aluminous, slag, supersulfate and similar hydraulic cements, white Portland cement, Portland cement, aluminous cement, slag cement, refractory cements, additives for cement, cement based building materials and more.

The inclusion of additional products to a tariff list follows an earlier decision by the US government to tax imports from China worth US$34bn that came into force in early July 2018.

South Africa: PPC’s profit rose due to strong performance in Zimbabwe and Rwanda. Its gross profit rose by 3% year-on-year to US$174m in the financial year that ended on 31 March 2018 from US$169m in the same period in 2017. Its revenue grew by 7% to US$762m from US$715m. However, its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell by 9% to US$140m from US$153m.

"Our performance has been resilient against the backdrop of challenging economic and political environments in markets in which we operate. While our rest of Africa operations, particularly Zimbabwe and Rwanda, achieved good results, our materials division faced reduced demand and increased competition. Our results have also been impacted by a number of significant abnormal items: corporate action, impairment of Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) operations and restructuring costs,” said chief executive officer (CEO) Johan Claassen.

By region, the group’s sales in South Africa and Botswana fell slightly due to a fall in cement sales volumes of 2 – 3%. Imports rose by 32% although PPC said it was from a low base. Elsewhere in Africa, PPC’s sales volumes rose by over 50% supported by ‘robust’ volume growth in Rwanda and Zimbabwe. The group’s PPC Barnet cement plant in Democratic Republic of Congo was commissioned in November 2017.

PPC’s lime division increased its revenue by 2% to US$59m, with volumes and selling prices similar to 2017. Volumes were constrained by key steel-customer shutdowns and non-extension of a significant contract. Lime's EBITDA contracted by
18% after higher variable costs for maintenance and raw material inputs.

US: Panamint Valley Limestone (PVL) plans to build a US$45m lime plant at Trona in California. The site and air emissions credits have been acquired, the conditional use permit process has started, and studies and preliminary engineering have been initiated. Lime production is scheduled to start in early 2021.

The PVL Lime plant will be located on a brownfield site northwest of the existing Searles Valley Minerals and ACE Cogeneration industrial facilities. Limestone will be sourced from the company’s quarry in the Panamint Valley. The unit will produce 400t/day of quick lime and hydrated lime products for use in cement, soil conditioning, water treatment and industrial processes.

PVL says that its new plant will be the only producer of lime in California, where currently all lime used is imported from outside of state. The plant is expected to create 30 to 40 new jobs.