Russian cement focus

The largest country in the world,¹ Russia is also in the enviable position of having huge natural resources, including limestone, diamonds, gold, fresh water, minerals and oil.² Indeed, it ranks top in the CIA World Factbook list of oil producing nations³ and has benefitted from recent increases in the price of fuel. Russia is populous and has seen steady economic growth so far in the 21st Century. Its cement industry is also growing rapidly, although it needs significant investment and consolidation to remove older, inefficient plants. Indeed, FLSmidth recently described Russia as its 'most promising' market because of the need for more efficient plants.⁴

Introduction

The Cold War thaws

The ideological battle between Communism and Capitalism known as the Cold War was the defining backdrop to the second half of the 20th Century. On one side was the Soviet Union (USSR) and its allies in the Eastern Bloc; on the other, the USA, Western Europe and others opposed to the spread of Communism. Both sides feared the expansion of the other's ideology and sought to contain the other through a variety of means. These included a mixture of military strategy and posturing, a conventional and nuclear arms race, espionage, the provision of aid to venerable allies, proxy wars in Afghanistan, Korea and Vietnam, diplomatic appeals to neutral countries and technological, military and economic one-upmanship.

Following a series of very conservative leaders in the USSR, Mikhail Gorbachev came to power in 1985. By this time, the Soviets were fighting a losing battle against US-supplied resistance fighters in Afghanistan, which had crystallised existing public opposition to the war there. It was also in a period of economic stagnation and widespread corruption in the government.

Glasnost

Aware of the public resentment, Gorbachev attempted to usher in a new era of Soviet rule, which he characterised as Glasnost (openness). He intended to make the dealings of the government more transparent, which he felt would re-invigorate trust in the political system and strengthen the USSR. As part of this, he relaxed control of the media and brought in legislation to allow the incorporation of some privately-owned businesses.

The unintended consequence of the new system was that once media controls had been eased, the public became aware of widespread social and economic problems that had previously been covered-up. The public also became aware (to some extent) of the past atrocities of the wartime leader Joseph Stalin, including his 1939 non-aggression pact with Nazi Germany, as well as Gorbachev's own bungled handling of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear reactor disaster.

In 1989 the Soviet-backed governments of its neighbouring satellite states began to fall following popular protests against Communist rule. Gorbachev refused to send in military support to the governments of these states, which made it possible for the movement to gain momentum. It then became impossible to prevent the spread of revolution to states within the USSR itself and by 1990 Moscow had lost much of its political, social, moral and economic control. Gorbachev's openness had started a chain-reaction towards a post-Soviet era that he had not been able to stop.

Dissolution

On 8 December 1991, the presidents of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus signed the Belavezha Accords, which declared the end of the USSR and established instead a loose confederation called the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). This move was further ratified by all USSR states on 21 December 1991 and on 25 December 1991 Gorbachev resigned as President of the USSR. He declared that the office no longer existed.

Boris Yeltsin took power as the first democratically elected President of a new Russia in June 1991. Other independent nations that resulted from the dissolution included Georgia, the Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

Table 1: Summary statistics for Russia.

Economy

Yeltsin administers 'shock-therapy'

In the immediate aftermath of the dissolution of the USSR, Russia was in poor economic shape. Despite having had a GDP/capita of US$8210 in 1989 (a level similar to Argentina and South Africa) it had slid to US$7780 by 1990, around a third of the level of the USA and half that of France and Germany.⁸

Liberalisation of 90% of prices in January 1992 saw food become more widely available in a short space of time, but also led to rampant inflation, then hyper-inflation and a resulting year-on-year decrease in economic output due to unpaid wages and suppliers.⁸

Between 1991 and 1995 Russia's GDP shrank by almost 40%. It fell by 18% in 1992, a further 12% in 1993, by 15% in 1994 and by 4% in 1995.⁹ Similarly, investment fell by 50% in 1992, then by 12% in 1993, by 23% in 1994 and 13% in 1995.⁹ By 1996 the public perception was that Yeltsin had broken his 1992 promise to increase Russia's standard of living.⁹ This led to a tense 1996 Presidential election that nearly saw the Communist Party candidate elected, but Yeltsin prevailed.

With his health beginning to fail, Yeltsin oversaw a very small improvement in GDP over 1996 and 1997, before the Asian banking collapse of 1997 spread to Russia in 1998. Reliant on selling oil to balance its public spending, Russia's fragile economy was undermined by a sudden slackening in demand that caused oil prices to fall sharply. GDP/capita was down drastically, from US$3056 in 1997 to US$1867 in 1998.¹⁰

In 1999 a 3.5% recovery in GDP was seen, but this mainly due to a recovered demand for oil and comparison to a poor 1998. For long-term perspective, the 1998 absolute GDP/capita was just 23% of that of 1989.¹¹

Despite a marked decrease in GDP over the 1990s, other indicators showed that an increasing number of consumer products had become readily available. Car ownership doubled from 14% to 27%, living space and home-ownership saw significant increases and over three times as many Russians could afford to take a foreign trip/holiday in 2000 than in 1991.⁸

The whole picture...?

While it is clear that the Russian economy contracted significantly in the early 1990s, the extent to which this happened is open to debate. Critics of the official GDP statistics point to two key points that can be used to argue that the real economic decline was less significant than was reported.⁸

Firstly, under the Soviet regime, GDP figures featured a large amount of military equipment, unfinished construction projects and poor-quality consumer products that did not have a real market. It is argued that these sections of the GDP were essentially artificial and had no way of being incorporated into the free market that followed.

Secondly, it is argued that GDP figures in the post-Soviet era may have been under-reported, either through unfamiliarity with new systems or deliberate manipulation in order to avoid tax payments. When combined, these considerations make it difficult to know for sure the true extent of the economic decline.

Into the 21st Century

Boris Yeltsin stepped down from the Presidency on 1 January 2000. He was succeeded by Vladimir Putin, who was elected in March 2000 after occupying the role of Prime Minister and then Acting President. Putin faced a legacy of rampant inflation (92.6% on average in 1999)¹² that was causing effective wages to drop dramatically, but 2000 saw a surprise significant continuation of trends that started in 1999.

Figure 1 shows that since 1999, the Russian GDP (PPP) has risen every year of the 21st Century so far except in 2008, when it dropped due to the onset of the global economic downturn.­¹³

Going forward

Despite a decade of economic growth the improved economic picture in Russia has not been spread evenly across the whole of society. There has been an increase in inequality in Russia in the past 20 years, the consequence of shifting from a centralised economy that was fundamentally based on worker equality (at a low level), to a market-based one. A recent report showed that Russia's inequality was the highest in Europe, having increased significantly since 2000.¹⁹ Anecdotal evidence from the young and educated from July 2011 shows that despite reasonable overall improvements it remains hard to enter top businesses without assistance from family or friends.²⁰ This is claimed to be due to the fact that upon the collapse of the Soviet Union the major state assets, such as oil and minerals, were transferred to a small number of new elite business leaders - the oligarchs. Additionally, as an exporter of raw materials, Russia naturally doesn't need a large number of skilled workers, leading to a large number of people with little prospect of a high-level job. This has resulted in an estimated emigration rate of 100,000 young workers per year.²⁰ Typical destinations include Silicon Valley in the USA and the City of London.

It is clear that Russia has a great deal on its side that could see it turn into a major economic and political powerhouse in the 21st Century. This will be able to happen more rapidly if it can develop ways to allow wider society to benefit more from the gains that have already been made.

Cement industry

Key figures

Russia has 51 integrated cement plants,16 with a total capacity of around 84.5Mt/yr in 2010.¹⁷ The bulk of the plants are in the west of the country near to Moscow, in a region roughly 2000km in diameter. Only 14 cement plants are located east of Chelyabinsk in the Central Federal District and there are only seven in the two most eastern districts, the Far Eastern Federal District and the Siberian Federal District. See Figure 3.

This pattern is broadly representative of the position of Russia's population and hence its building activity. Larger towns and cities such as Moscow, St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Chelyabinsk and Nizhny Novgorod are associated with clusters of building activity. Recently, such cities have been joined by Sochi, which will host the Winter Olympics in 2014. Indeed Sochi was the largest consumer of cement in Southern Federal District in the first quarter of 2011.¹⁶

Figure 3: Map of Russia showing major cities, neighbouring countries and integrated cement manufacturing plants.^14,15
(click on the map to open a full sized version with key)

Table 2: Summary statistics for the Russian cement industry.

The main players

The main cement producer in Russia is the holding company Eurocement Group, which has a total of 14 cement plants in Russia. Its dominant market position is shown in Figure 4.¹⁶

There are several strong regional players, including GK RATM, which owns Iskitimcement in the Novosibirsk Region, GC Park Group, which has three cement plants in the Far East Federal District and JSC Mordovcement, which has three plants in the Republic of Mordovia. Three multinationals have an interest in the Russian market, with Lafarge, Holcim and HeidelbergCement owning two plants each.¹⁶

Recent performance

The Russian cement industry, like many others around the world, was adversely affected by the 2008 global financial crisis. Many public and private construction projects were put on hold as average cement prices more than doubled from around US$82/t in the middle of 2007 to over US$162/t in the middle of 2008.²¹

2009 saw a large decline in cement consumption but by the spring of 2010, the picture was beginning to improve. In May 2010 cement production was up by 22% compared to the same month of 2009, peaking at over 5Mt per month in the busy summer season, in what is a very seasonal construction market. This has been driven by the construction of roads in the region surrounding Moscow, improvements in the Far East Federal District ahead of the 2012 APEC Summit, ongoing Winter Olympics' preparation in Sochi and preparation for the 2018 FIFA Football World Cup, which will be held at a number of new constructions across many cities.²¹

A legacy of inefficiency

The infrastructure of the Russian cement industry was built mainly under Soviet rule. With an emphasis on production totals (rather than the efficiency with which those totals were reached) much of the Soviet-era industry was of comparatively low efficiency.

This legacy is still evident in the Russian cement industry today. In September 2011 the Danish cement plant market leader,²³ FLSmidth, stated that Russia was its most 'promising market' on the back of two recently announced projects (see separate story) and its claim that 85% of the entire Russian cement plant stock was in need of refurbishment for improved efficiency.⁴

The Global Cement Directory 2010 lists just nine cement plants with a dry or semi-dry cement line out of its 49 listed plants in Russia, with 164 wet or semi-wet lines against just 31 dry lines.¹⁴ Figure 3 includes two further dry cement plants.²² Such a large proportion of wet production is highly unusual for a cement industry with such a large capacity.

For comparison, the Global Cement Directory 2010 lists just 13 cement plants with wet production out of 99 plants in the USA, 16 cement plants with wet production lines out of the 113 plants (for which the process is listed) in India and 0 plants out of the 33 listed in Germany.¹⁴ In terms of its current cement production capacity, Russia currently has more in common with Syria (six wet to 13 dry) and sub-Saharan Africa (11 wet to 39 dry).¹⁴

In contrast, the new cement plants being built in Russia are already highly-efficient. Cement producers from outside of the country, such as HeidelbergCement and Holcim have been among the first to switch to more energy-efficient technologies.²²

The fact that so much of the cement industry remains behind the times is predominently due to a lack of international investment in the 1990s. Combined with high inflation for much of the decade that prevented domestic investment, this meant that Soviet-era industrial units remained in place in many areas.¹²

Going green

To date there has also been little need to update industrial installations because of limited changes in environmental regulation. As late as 2006 the OECD found that environmental regulation in Russia was in need of a significant overhaul.²⁴ It said that in order for regulations to become more effective in Russia, the country would need to simplify requirements with an emphasis on improved accountability and transparency. It recommended performance-based laws that were 'enforceable, coherent and simple' as well as making attempts to move the environment up the agenda.²⁴

In June 2010 Russian President, Dmitry Medvedev, agreed to the recommendations of the State Council Presidium advisory board, which stated that Russia should overhaul its environmental regulations, with draft laws to be finalised by 1 December 2010. The government was also instructed to finalise its energy policy to 2030 by 31 December 2010.

In the light of this likely new regulation, some older cement plants that may have just about been economically viable under current laws, will be in danger of becoming unlawful. These will have to be replaced or significantly altered, hence FLSmidth's assertion that Russia is a promising market for cement plant manufacturers.⁴

So far in 2011

As can be seen in Figure 5, Russian cement production started from a relatively low base in January 2011 compared to the pre-recession era (2007-2008), but January 2011 production was above that of 2009 and 2010. Steady improvements in the first three months saw Russia produce 8.4Mt of cement in the first quarter of 2011, ahead of production year-on-year in every comparable month in 2009 and 2010.

By April and May 2011, cement production was well ahead of the comparable months of both 2009 and 2010 and by June 2011, production had even surged ahead of 2007's production values. In July 2011 the trend continued, with the country racking up over 6Mt of cement produced. In August 2011 the country produced 6.47Mt of cement, up from 5.81Mt in August 2010.25 This represents a rise of 13%.

This pick-up in fortunes is reflected in reports from Russia's market leader. Eurocement has seen some significant increases in output at its joint-venture plants at Katavsky, Lipetskcement and Oskolcement.26 In the first half of 2011 the Katavksy plant reported a 7.7% increase in output compared to the first half of 2010. In July 2011 Lipetskcement reported a 12% year-on-year increase in its dispatches to 716,000t. Meanwhile, Eurocement's Oskolcement reported a 101% increase in the first seven months of 2011 to 1.79Mt, which was in part based on an order for a large agricultural project.

Future

As the developed world slowly crawls out of the global recession (2008-201?), Russia will be in an even better position to continue to exploit its vast reserves of oil and natural gas. Coupled to continued increases in the price of fossil fuels, this will net the country ever more money with which to improve its cities and infrastructure.

When one considers road and rail projects, ambitious home-construction projects and one-off events such as the 2014 Winter Olympics and 2018 World Cup (which will also generate additional satellite and on-going developments) the future looks solid for the cement industry and wider construction sector, as evidenced by recent cement plant projects by major international players.

Cement demand per capita in Russia is forecast to increase by around 42% in just four years between 2010 and 2014.¹⁸ This has led to a recent explosion of new cement projects in the western part of Russia, with a significant emphasis on the elimination of older, inefficient wet processing capacity. New plants will open and some will close. As a result of increased efficiency, the Russian cement industry will become greener, leaner and more able to provide the materials that Russia needs to fully exploit its natural wealth.

Recent cement news and projects

Below follows a summary of recent projects carried out by cement industry suppliers in Russia.

FLSmidth says that Russia is 'most promising market'

The chief executive of the Danish cement plant supplier FLSmidth, Jørgen Huno Rasmussen, has announced that Russia is now seen as the most promising market for cement plant projects. "This confirms what we have long said. There is very big potential in Russia," said Rasmussen. "It is the most promising market we see at the moment."

Rasmussen also said that the big potential in Russia for cement plant sales stemmed from high economic growth, based largely on high energy prices and from the age of existing cement production capacity. "Around 85% of the existing cement capacity is outdated and needs to be replaced," Rasmussen said.

In September 2011, FLSmidth won two orders to build cement plants in Russia. FLSmidth said it would build a complete cement plant for Kaluga Cement Plant LLC in the Kaluga province, 300km southwest of Moscow in a deal worth Euro150m. The company also announced a preliminary deal for a separate 8500t/day cement plant in Russia, which is expected to be worth Euro100m.

Spassk Cement - ThyssenKrupp Polysius

Spassk Cement, located to the north of Vladivostock, has contracted ThyssenKrupp Polysius to modernise kiln plant 1 at its Spassk-Dalny factory. Among the main objectives are reducing the fuel consumption and increasing the output.

ThyssenKrupp Polysius is supplying a Polytrack® clinker cooler with a throughput of 3300t/day to replace the first and second grates of the existing cooler. The new cooler will be integrated into the housing of the old cooler, allowing the clinker conveying equipment to be retained in its present form.

The modernisation is expected to raise the production capacity of the entire kiln line. Polysius is also supplying a Polcid® cooler control system, the electrical equipment and the basic engineering. In addition to modernisations in the preheater, the rotary kiln is to be equipped with new inlet and outlet seals.

In April 2011 Spassk Cement placed another order with ThyssenKrupp Polysius, this time for a Polab® laboratory automation system. In the future, sampling, analysis and control of kiln lines 1 and 2 will take place fully automatically via the central laboratory equipped with Polab® ACT and APM, including XRD and XRF analysers. In both kiln lines the raw meal quality will be fully automatically controlled, with samplers sending material via a pneumatic tube delivery system to the Polab® ACT. Kiln feed samples will be manually supplied to the Polab® APM module in the laboratory. Upon startup in 2012 the Polab® configuration will be the first such installation operating in Russia.

Russian-Chinese Cement Summit 2011

The Russian-Chinese Cement Summit will be held on 29 November 2011 to 1 December 2011 at the ExpoCentr in Moscow. The main goal of the event is to enlarge the cooperation between cement enterprises and plants, engineering companies and equipment producers. It is being supported by the Chinese Cement Association, the Union of cement producers of Russia and the Ministry of Regional Development.

The Russian and Chinese cement industries have a number of common features, including a large geographical spread, rapid growth and significant amounts of older, inefficient cement production capacity. China has taken great strides in improving efficiency in recent years with drastic strategies for removing older plants, something that Russia is looking to do in the near future.

Eurocement - Wirtgen surface miners

When the Eurocement Group Holding planned the modernisation of its mining operations, economical and environmentally-friendly non-blasting technologies were taken strongly into consideration. The objective was to introduce new and advanced technologies in the operations in order to increase productivity.

The evaluation of different mining and crushing systems from an economic standpoint showed that Wirtgen surface mining technologies offered substantial advantages for the company. No blasting was required, thus the impact on the environment was reduced considerably and primary crushing was eliminated through the production of <150mm material during the surface mining process. This allowed for a considerable simplification of the entire operation.

The decision in favour of the SM2500 surface miners brought significant cost benefits regarding machinery, personnel and diesel. The use of the Wirtgen surface miners also created a very positive impact on the environment in the affected areas and significantly increased safety in the mining operations and quarries.

Lafarge - Tebodin Moscow

Tebodin Moscow has been performing engineering services for a Lafarge cement plant in Russia since July 2010. The project is being realised in the Kaluga region close to the village of Ferzikovo, 200km south-west of Moscow. The designed plant capacity is 5000t/day.

A unique feature of the project is that the Oka river separates the quarry and the production site. This natural obstacle has been considered during the design phase of the project.

The philosophy that has been adopted is to extract raw materials from the quarry and undertake the primary crushing on the quarry side of the site. The material is then transported along a long belt conveyor to the production site on the other side of the Oka.

From 1 June 2011 Tebodin Moscow started performing technical services. Under this new contract Tebodin is responsible for the technical supervision (scope of works and works quality), construction works control, client control function and further commissioning on the site.

POL-INOWEX S.A. - Slantsy Cement

A project by POL-INOWEX S.A. was undertaken in Slantsy (Russia) in the spring of 2007 at the Cesla Cement mill. It consisted of dismantling an old Russian clinker cooler and assembling a new modern one, manufactured by IKN.

Assembly was run in a two-shift system (2 x 12 hrs a day) under the supervision of IKN engineers. The new cooler was delivered to the site in assembly units (sections) and components. In the final phase of assembly, the cooler housing was tightly welded, thermally insulated and covered with refractory. The assembling of the travelling grate, driven by a hydraulic cylinder, was the most difficult element of the project. It had to be installed and adjusted with high precision, using a tachometer.

The project was a great challenge. Time was the most important factor but POL-INOWEX completed the project successfully on time.

Katavsky Cement starts new machines

In March 2011 ZAO Katavsky Cement launched two new Vselug Turbo 3-BN packaging machines at its plant, significantly increasing the speed at which cement can be packaged from just 500t/day to 1500t/day. Eurocement Group invested nearly Euro100,000 in the machinery.

SAT - Holcim Volskcement and Shurovsky

Holcim has selected long-standing supplier SAT of Sofia, Bulgaria, to conduct work at two of its plants in Russia. SAT participated in modernisation of the entire Volskcement plant starting with cement transport, followed by full automation of cement mills and modernisation of kilns four to eight. The contract will continue into 2012 with the upgrade of a semi-wet kiln line at the plant.

In 2009 SAT started the implementation of the new kiln line project at Holcim's Shurovsky Cement plant. SAT was chosen as a turn-key supplier for the electrical and automation aspects of the project. The project includes all plant areas, from the quarry to the cement dispatching, including the kiln, raw, cement and coal mills, transports, water supply and electrical distribution of medium and low voltage.

The project consists of a total 22 electrical rooms and substations, 800 motors and consumers, two pairs of servers, 10 operators' stations, three engineering stations, 12 PLC, 14000 I/O signals, 260 DIO boxes, 25 LVD centres, 35 MCC, 30 fibre-optic boxes and other equipment. This included the installation of an

industrial Profibus and ethernet networks covering the entire plant and gathering all information to a single point, i.e.: the main control room. The project incorporated many third-party subcontrol systems such as gas analysers, stackers, reclaimers, lubrication and hydraulic systems.

Ventilatorenfabrik Oelde GmbH

Venti-Oelde has recently supplied a fan to a cement grinding plant in Russia's Chamzinsky region. For wear-protection the impeller blades are equipped with chromium carbide. The centre disc is furnished with wear plates. Slide bearings were employed with oil circuit lubrication. A summary of the fan's technical specification is provided in Table 3.

Table 3: Summary technical parameters for the fan supplied by Venti-Oelde to a Russian grinding plant.

SK Imperial - HeidelbergCement

SK Imperial was heavily involved in the provision of steel structures during the construction of HeidelbergCement's 2Mt/yr Tula Cement plant in Alexin District, Novogurovsky community. It completed steel structures for three cement silos, four conveyor galleries and steelwork in the crushing area and dispatch. It supplied a total of 3430t of steel.

SK Imperial - BaselCement

SK Imperial performed installation of steelwork at BaselCement's Serebryansky Cement plant in Ryazan Region, Mikhailovsky district. The company provided 13 conveyor galleries (amounting to 1800t), steel structures for coal and clay silos (amounting to 1660t), the manufacture and installation of wall steel structures (200t) and installation of corrugated sheets for the facades of 12 process buildings (70,000m²).

Feldbinder at ComTrans 2011

The Feldbinder Spezialfahrzeugwerke GmbH stand at ComTrans in Moscow had two vehicles on display, demonstrating the importance of the Russian market to the company.

The two vehicles were a silotrailer for cement with a 31m (EUT 31) and a trailer for foodstuffs with a 33m (TSA 33 LM). The company's focus on the European market includes the eastern European area, including Poland, the Czech Republic and Russia.

FLSmidth - Novoroscement

FLSmidth has been awarded a contract worth approximately Euro55m by the Russian company Novoroscement, to supply equipment and supervision for modernisation of its Proletariy cement plant. The plant is located at Novorossisk in southern Russia, near the Black Sea.

The order entails an upgrade of the existing production line from a present capacity of 1740t/day to a future capacity of 6000t/day. The modernisation of the production line will lead to a more environmentally friendly and energy-efficient production process.

The equipment to be supplied comprises an Atox 57.5 raw mill, a five-stage preheater, modification of the existing kiln shell, new filters, FLSmidth's latest design Cross-bar cooler, a clinker storage silo and a complete new control system.

"We are happy to develop this cooperation with Novoroscement on the Proletariy cement plant, which FLSmidth erected in 1914. We see a great market in Russia for modernisation of existing cement plants and the order from Novoroscement offers prospects of other major expansion projects in the region, especially when looking towards the 2014 Winter Olympics in Russia," said FLSmidth's CEO Jørgen Huno Rasmussen. The order will contribute beneficially to FLSmidth's earnings until mid 2013.

FLSmidth - JSC EcoInvest

In connection with Her Majesty the Queen of Denmark's state visit to Russia, FLSmidth expects to sign an agreement on future cooperation with the Russian company JSC EcoInvest. The 6 September 2011 agreement relates to the supply of equipment and services for a complete greenfield cement plant and is expected to amount to a value of more than Euro100m. The agreement is not yet binding, but if and when it does become binding, FLSmidth shall immediately inform the market.

FLSmidth - Sebryakov Cement

In December 2010 FLSmidth received a contract worth approximately Euro30m from Russian Open Joint Stock Company Sebryakov Cement for the supply of equipment for its new cement production line. The plant is located in Mihkailovka city, approximately 180km north of Volgograd.

The order is based on an ongoing collaboration between Sebryakov Cement and FLSmidth that goes back to 2005 when the contract for a new, and until now the biggest cement mill in Russia, was signed. The new production line will substitute the existing wet line, reducing energy consumption significantly and increasing production to 1Mt/yr of clinker.

The contract includes supply of the process equipment and technology, starting from intake of the raw material with a combined crusher, material handling, new raw material storages, modern kiln with dry crusher and three-stage preheater, clinker cooler, clinker transport to existing storage as well as upgrade of the existing electrostatic precipitator to ensure the lowest possible dust emissions. Automation and control equipment will also be supplied for the new production line.

Spitzer at ComTrans 2011

Spitzer Silo-Fahrzeugwerke exhibited once again at the ComTrans transport fair in Moscow, which took place on 13-17 September 2011. The fair was reportedly better visited than in 2010 and the atmosphere was 'cautious but optimistic'. According to the organiser, the number of exhibitors at ComTrans in 2011 was double that of the 2010 event.

Geoservex - Tula Cement

Geoservex will be responsible for kiln mechanical condition and thrust balancing during kiln start up and first heating at the Tula Cement plant operated by HeidelbergCement, in a contract due to start in October 2011. Following the determination of kiln operating parameters Geoservex will check the kiln alignment and perform all necessary adjustments.

References

1. CIA World Factbook, 'Country Comparison - Area.'
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2173rank.html

2. Siberian Light website.
http://siberianlight.net/russiaguide/russias-natural-resources

3. CIA World Factbook, List of Oil Producing Nations (by output).
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2173rank.html

4. Global Cement Magazine staff, 'Russia most important market for FLSmidth,' 12 September 2011.
http://www.propubs.com/index.php/resources/global-cement/news/517-russia-most-important-market-for-flsmidth

5. Federal State Statistics Service, 'Preliminary results of the 2010 all-Russian population census.'
http://www.perepis-2010.ru/results_of_the_census/results-inform.php

6. International Monetary Fund, 'Russia.'
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2011/01/weodata/weorept.aspx?sy=2008&ey=2011&scsm=1&ssd=1&sort=country&ds=.&br=1&c=922&s=NGDPD%2CNGDPDPC%2CPPPGDP%2CPPPPC%2CLP&grp=0&a=&pr.x=37&pr.y=13

7. Estimate based on 2010 population estimate5 from the Federal State Statistics Service and the projected 2011 GDP from the International Monetary Fund.6

8. Shleifer, A.; Treisman, D. 'A normal country: Russia after Communism,' J. Econ. Perspect., 19 (1), 2005, pp. 151.
http://www.economics.harvard.edu/faculty/shleifer/files/normal_jep.pdf

9. Hout, M. 'More shock than therapy: Market transition, employment and income in Russia 1991-1995,' Am. J. Sociol., vol. 104, 1998.
http://www.irle.berkeley.edu/culture/papers/Gerber.pdf

10. Encyclopedia of the nations, 'Russia - Overview of economy,'
http://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/economies/Europe/Russia-OVERVIEW-OF-ECONOMY.html

11. Bush, K. 'The Russian economy in March 2000' Center for Strategic and International Studies, Washington, DC, 2000.
http://www.nato.int/docu/colloq/1999/pdf/133-158.pdf

12. Trading Economics website & Inflation.com website.
http://www.tradingeconomics.com/russia/inflation-cpi
http://www.inflation.eu/inflation-rates/russia/historic-inflation/cpi-inflation-russia-1999.aspx

13. Data from CIA World Factbook 2011 via www.indexmundi.com.
http://www.indexmundi.com/russia/gdp_per_capita_(ppp).html

14. Edwards, P. (Ed.) 'Global Cement Directory 2010,' PRo Publications International Ltd, Epsom, UK, 2010.

15. CM Pro Ltd, 'Russian cement market: History and outlook,' within 'Global Cement Magazine - October 2010,' PRo Publications International Ltd., Epsom, UK, October 2010.

16. Kalashnik, V.; Kasaeva, I. 'Update from Russia,' within 'Global Cement Magazine - September 2011,' PRo Publications International Ltd., Epsom, UK, September 2011.

17. Data recieved from Kasaeva, I. 26 September 2011.

18. Abstract of Report. 'Research and markets: Russian cement sector analysis' 2011.
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20110704005371/en/Research-Markets-Russian-Cement-Sector-Analysis--

19. Mahler, C. 'Diverging fortunes: Recent developments in income inequality across Russian regions.' Opticon1826, iss. 10, Spring 2011.
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/opticon1826/currentissue/articles/Mahler.pdf

20. Clover, C. 'Russia: Ascent and dissent,' Financial Times website, 11 July 2011.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/85983b7c-abf1-11e0-945a-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1YQCEVdck

21. ISI Emerging Markets Blog website, 'Russia: Cement Production Rises to Meet the Demands Construction Industry' - Accessed 27 September 2011.
http://blog.securities.com/2011/05/cement-production-rises-construction-industry/

22. Back issues of 'Global Cement Magazine,' PRo Publications International Ltd., Epsom, UK. September 2010 - September 2011.

23. FLSmidth data showed that the company enjoyed a 36% shared of the cement plant construction market in 2010 by contracted kiln capacity.

24. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 'Environmental policy and regulation in Russia - The implementation challenge.' 2006.
http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/63/18/38118149.pdf

25. International Analytical Review, 'Results of building materials production in August 2011 in Russian Federation,' September 2011.

26. McCaffrey, R., Edwards, P. (Eds.) 'Russian cement production on the up' within Global Cement Magazine - September 2011,' PRo Publications International Ltd., Epsom, UK, September 2011, pp. 40.