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Cemex divests itself of Euro300m Spanish assets 02 September 2019
Spain: Following its 2018 appeal against a Euro445m fine for misreporting losses, granted on condition of the company paying the court Euro300m in line with its obtaining specified mortgages and land sales, Cemex continues to release its holdings on the Iberian peninsula.
Cinco Días has reported that Cemex’s Spain operations closed its sale to Turkey’s Çimsa of its White Cement division in the first quarter of 2019 for 180 million. In 2018, the Spanish subsidiary of Cemex divested itself of five pieces of property at a profit of Euro17,000. Its Azuara production line in Saragossa Province generated capital gains of Euro462,000.
In the first half of 2019, Cemex reported earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) in Europe of Euro185m, up by 21% from US$168m in the same period of 2018.
Cemex’s Spanish presence began in 1992, when it acquired the country’s two largest cement companies, and it was hit by the downturn of 2008. La Nueva España reports that Cemex has applied for concessions from the Port of Gijón for storage of a dissembled biomass fuel hopper which had been awaiting shipment to Cemex’s Tilbury plant when the recession struck, grounding it in the the port, where it has remained ever since. Autoridad Portuaria de Gijón, the administrative body responsible, is currently considering Cemex’s application.
University of Dundee study looks at fly ash moisture 02 September 2019
UK: A study by the University of Dundee has dispelled the myths of substantial performance differences between concretes made with cement containing dry or wet-stored fly ash, with comparable reinforcement corrosion between the two.
Vertical News has reported that the research, whose backers included the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs and Heathrow Airport Holdings, was aimed at “quantifying moisture effects, which indicate agglomeration of fly ash and a tendency for this to increase with free lime content, storage period and temperature.”
Researchers tested five moistened fly ashes and samples from two power station stockpiles, and further investigated different material and storage variables, comparing the concretes at 75mm slump and 28 day strength. Air permeability and water absorption of moistened fly ash proved greater with high free lime (up to 0.9%) and lower with low free lime (to under 0.1%). What benefits there were improved with longer storage. The moistening of low-free-lime fly ash generally yielded similar, or slightly higher, carbonation and chlorine diffusion. The moisture caused little change in high-free-lime ash’s carbonation, while increasing chloride diffusion. Furthermore, high storage temperature equated to greater carbonation.
In spite of these intriguing chemical differences, the study concluded, "these didn't seem to have a noticeable effect on concrete resistance.”
Ramco Cement set to boost capacity 02 September 2019
India: Ramco Cement is set to complete its expansion works, aimed at raising total production capacity to 20Mt/yr from 12.5Mt/yr, by the end of 2020.
Ramco’s capacity utilisation in the three months to 30 June 2019 was 90%, 23% above the national average of 67%. ProjectsToday reports that the company is investing US$467m in developments, including a US$347m grinding plant in Arunachal Pradesh.
The company reported net profits of US$26.7m in the quarter to 30 June 2019, up by 53.6% from US$17.3m in the same period of 2018, against a backdrop of a struggling domestic market, with national cement sales in July down by 2.8% to 3.6Mt from 3.5Mt a year ago.
DongWu Cement reports on first half profits 30 August 2019
China: DongWu Cement’s net profit over the six months to 30 June 2019 was US$4.83bn, up by 20.6% from US$4.00bn over the same period of 2018. Its cement segment reported a net profit of US$5.37bn, up by 9.1% from US$4.92bn in the corresponding period of 2018.
In its financial statement, DongWu noted a year-on-year growth in China’s total cement output of 6.8% to 1.05Bnt in the first half of 2019, with prices also increasing by 4.1% to US$60.9/t, though growth rates have slowed.
Infrastructure developments have driven swelling demand, while compressed supply has brought the centrally organised economy’s cement reserves to a medium-low level.
Uzbekistan: Uzbekistan’s cement imports totalled US$105.6m over the six months to 30 June 2019, up by 32.3% from 2018.
Chinese investment in Uzbek domestic cement production saw two cement plants of 1.2Mt/yr and 2.4Mt/yr capacity enter development in 2018. Huaxin Cement’s Zafarabad plant is expected to become operational in December 2019, with Gansu Hengya Cement’s Kattakurgan plant also due to enter operation in the coming months.