Russia: Siberian Cement Holding Company (SibCem) subsidiary Iskitimcement produced 454,000t of cement in the first half of 2020, up by 7.8% year-on-year from 421,000t in the first half of 2019. Cement shipments over the period were 447,000t, up by 7% from 418,000t.
Iskitimcement said that its CEM-I Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) was its most in-demand product, constituting 53% of total production at 243,000t. Its new CEM-II Portland slag cement, launched on 28 April 2020, achieved production volumes of 4000t (1%). It said that the coronavirus outbreak caused a slowdown in June 2020, resulting in a 7% year-on-year drop in demand compared with June 2019. Managing director Vladimir Skakun said, “The general weakening of economic activity, the fall in oil prices and the exchange rate of the national currency and a decrease in the incomes of Russians are causing concern.”
The company completed the installation of a closed-circuit dynamic separator and bag filter produced by Germany-based Christian Pfeiffer into the Iskitimcement plant’s grinding unit 6 in June 2020. To date, the equipment has produced 114,000t of ultra-fine cement towards an annual target of 480,000t.
