13 October 2017
PPC said to be on shopping list for CRH 13 October 2017
South Africa: Ireland’s CRH is considering making a bid for PPC according to unnamed sources quoted by Bloomberg. However, no final decision has been made and neither CRH nor PPC have commented on the matter. Following an offer made by Fairfax Financial Holdings in September 2017, PPC said that it had received two other offers. Nigeria’s Dangote Cement publicly admitted that it was in talks with PPC but it later withdrew from the bidding process.
Tarmac buys full ownership of ScotAsh 13 October 2017
UK: Tarmac has acquired full ownership of ScotAsh by purchasing the remaining 50% share of the company from Scottish Power. Tarmac will now take full ownership of ScotAsh, which it has operated since 1999, and will continue to operate the company under the ScotAsh name. ScotAsh manufactures products using recycled pulverised fuel ash (PFA) from power stations, which is used in the cement, aggregate and grout industries.
“Each year, ScotAsh supplies its range of sustainable, technologically advanced products to customers within the UK and global construction industry, including to Tarmac’s Dunbar cement plant for production of its Phoenix cement,” said Allan Everett, Ash business manager at Tarmac. He added that further integrating the company into Tarmac would help it to enhance expertise at both businesses, leverage the national supply and import capabilities for PFA and strengthening its product portfolio.
Cruz Azul confirms US$300m upgrade plan 13 October 2017
Mexico: Cruz Azul has confirmed that it plans to spend US$300m on upgrades at two of its cement plants over the next 28 months. Previously the plan was announced in late 2016. Guillermo Álvarez Cuevas told the El Economista newspaper that the cement producer intends to carry out work to increase production capacity at its Hildalgo and Oaxaca plants.
Brazilian cement sales continue falling so far in 2017 13 October 2017
Brazil: Sales of cement have fallen by 7.6% year-on-year to 40.5Mt in the first nine months of 2017 from 43.8Mt in the same period of 2016. The data from the Brazilian cement association SNIC showed that cement sales had fallen in all regions of the country with particular decreases in the North and North-East areas. SNIC president Paulo Camillo Penna commented that the rate of decline was slowing compared to 2016 and that further progress was expected in 2018. He added that fruther government infrastructure investment was necessary to encourage this trend.
Umm Al Qura Cement secures US$13.3m loan 13 October 2017
Saudi Arabia: Umm Al Qura Cement Company has signed an Islamic financing agreement with Riyad Bank to secure a US$13.3m loan. The investment will be used to finance the working capital of the company and to pay for capital purchases. The cement producer produces both Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) and white cement from its 1.98Mt/yr plant at Taif.
India: Orient Cement has paid US$46,000 in compensation to the families of two workers who were electrocuted at the Chittapur cement plant. The move follows tension in the local community, according to the New Indian Express newspaper. The cement producer has also agreed to offer employment to the members of both families and to grant pensions to the widows of the workers.
YD Madencilik order three silos from Claudius Peters 13 October 2017
Turkey: YD Madencilik, a subsidiary of Agoaglu, has signed a contract with Claudius Peters for the delivery of three new silos. The silos will be operated by YD Madencilik in Düzce, Turkey. Commissioning is scheduled for 2018.
The scope of supply comprises a multi storage tricell silo MS-IC/EC for cement, a cement storage duocell silo MS-IC/EC as well as a raw meal MC silo. Both cement silos have a volume of nearly 16,800m³ with an inner diameter of 24m and a filling height of 75m. The raw meal silo has a volume of nearly 16,700m³ and an inner diameter of 20m.