Articles on the cement industry from Global Cement

Just as the dust had started to settle after the completion of the LafargeHolcim merger on 15 July 2015, HeidelbergCement surprised the global cement industry by announcing that it had acquired a controlling 45% stake in the Italian cement producer Italcementi. The German firm, already the second-largest multinational producer by installed capacity, purchased the stake for Euro10.60/share on 28 July 2015. It has since begun a procedure by which it aims to acquire 100% of the shares in its Italian rival. Here, Global Cement looks at the effects this will have on global, regional and national cement industries.

Nanjing Kesen Kenen Environment & Energy Co., Ltd (NKK), China, has recently conducted a successful engineering procurement and construction project to build a waste heat recovery (WHR) power plant at Sharjah Cement Factory (SCF) in the UAE. NKK completed the installation of the plant on SCF's two production lines in association with UAE-based subcontractor Petron Emirates Cont & Mfg Co LLC in the first quarter of 2015.

The People's Republic of China (PRC), which spans 9,596,961km², is the world's second-largest country by land area, behind Russia. With an estimated population of 1.40bn in 2015, China is the most highly-populated country in the world. China is divided into 22 Provinces, five Autonomous Regions, four Municipalities and two Special Administrative Zones. Taiwan is China's '23rd Province,' although its status is contested and the region is governed by the Republic of China (ROC). China is home to a strong manufacturing industry and the world's largest cement market. Here Global Cement Magazine gives an overview of the Chinese cement industry and an update on developments since July 2014.

The global demand for alternative fuels continues to increase and diversify. Cement companies are under increased scrutiny to deliver high quality products in a safe environment, while continuing to increase their efficiencies. The need to reduce kiln operating fuel costs therefore remain one of the largest goals for cement producers. Traditionally this has involved solid wastes, particularly from municipal sources. Here, however, Ted T Reese of Cadence Environmental Energy highlights the potential to use wastes from the oil refining industry as alternative fuels for cement production.

Griffin Capital was appointed by a Kazakh resource developer to advise on a tender to the Afghanistan's MoM for the US$300m Ghori III greenfield cement plant project. The developer achieved pre-qualification short list approval in 2014, following a secure site inspection at the Ghori I and II plants that was arranged by Griffin Capital with the US Secretary of Defence's Task Force for Business and Stability Operations (TFBSO) and the USGS.¹ Griffin Capital's Robert Jutson agreed to provide an overview of the existing cement operations at the Ghori site, the cement industry in Afghanistan and its outlook.