September 2024
Pakistan: The Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) has fined four cement producers for deceptive marketing practices in violation of the Competition Act 2010. Fines of US$1.8m each have been levied on Al-Abbas Cement, Attock Cement, Bestway Cement and Lucky Cement.
A CCP official said that the commission is mandated under the Competition Act 2010 to ensure fair competition in all spheres of commercial and economic activities. The Competition Commission of Pakistan is committed to maintain transparency for enhancing economic efficiency and to protect consumers from anticompetitive practices, including deceptive marketing.
West China Cement reports loss for first half of 2016 03 October 2016
China: West China Cement Limited has reported that its made a loss of US$17m in the first half of 2016 down from a profit of US$0.36m in the same period in 2015. Its revenue fell by 4% to US$244m from US$253m. Its gross profit fell by 29% to US$22.9m from US$32.3m.
Palestine Investment Fund launches cement plant project 03 October 2016
Palestine: The Palestine Investment Fund (PIF), the investment arm of the Palestinian Authority, has launched the first phase of a new cement plant, the first in the Palestinian areas. Investment in the plant is expected to reach US$310m and production will start in 2018.
The opening ceremony took place at the Jaser Palace in Bethlehem under the patronage of President Mahmoud Abbas. PIF chairman of the board Mohammad Mustafa attended the event with Louai Kawas, chief executive officer of Sanad Construction Industries Company, a PIF-owned company in charge of the plant.
Sanad Construction Industries Company was established in 1994 for the purpose of meeting the needs of the Palestinian construction market such as the provision of building material. The cement plant is intended to provide 90% of the cement needs for the Palestinian construction market. At present cement for the territory is purchased from Jordan and Israel.
Cemex to sell 23% stake in Grupo Cementos de Chihuahua 03 October 2016
Mexico: Cemex wants to sell its 23% stake in Grupo Cementos de Chihuahua through a secondary public offering. Cemex has asked the Comisión Nacional Bancaria y de Valores, Mexico's banking and securities regulator (CNBV), to approve the planned transaction, under which the Mexican building materials company will offer the shares to domestic and foreign investors in a concurrent private placement. The sale will be part of Cemex’s previously announced asset disposal plan. The company wants to sell up to US$2bn worth of assets to reduce its debts.
Lafarge Canada to test burning tyres at its Brookfield plant 30 September 2016
Canada: Lafarge Canada has started a partnership with Dalhousie University researcher Mark Gibson to test tyre-derived fuel on an industrial scale at the Brookfield cement plant in Nova Scotia. Working under a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Discovery Grant, this initiative will research the adoption of low carbon fuels in the cement industry. The research will continue the partnership between Lafarge Canada and Dalhousie's Faculty of Engineering.
"My students and I are very pleased to see this work enter the real world. Based on our research, we expect to see significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions from the Brookfield cement plant and thereby help Nova Scotia move one step closer to a low carbon economy," said Gibson. He added that the use of tires will also reduce NOx emissions. In 2015, Gibson and his team published a report entitled ‘Use of scrap tyres as an alternative fuel source at the Lafarge cement kiln, Brookfield, Nova Scotia.’
Due to different initiatives including previous work with Dalhousie's Faculty of Engineering, the Brookfield plant has substituted alternative fuels for conventional ones by using front-end burner injection in its kiln. The plant is expected to reach a substitution rate of up to 30% by the end of 2016. Following the test using tyres the cement producer expects to use 15% of its fuel requirements from 450,000 tyres per year, or just under half the amount of tyres generated in Nova Scotia. The project proposal will be explained in further detail at a Public Meeting planned for 20 October 2016 in Brookfield.
US: St. Marys Cement’s has received inducement resolution approval from the Michigan Strategic Fund (MSF) for up to US$150m in private activity bonds to expand its Charlevoix plant in Michigan. The cement producer will now submit a more detailed plan to the MSF.
“This is great news for St Marys, its employees and customers,” said Senator Wayne Schmidt. “Not only will this project help the company to grow its Charlevoix plant and expand its capabilities to better serve customers, but it will also create new jobs in the community.”
According to MSF, the plant upgrade will expand the plant’s infrastructure to increase productivity. The project is expected to qualify for bond financing as a solid waste disposal and recycling facility. The company currently employs 232 people, and the expansion project is expected to add up to 200 jobs during construction and up to 10 permanent jobs upon completion.
Private activity bonds are a source of financial assistance to economic development projects in the state. They provide profitable firms with capital cost savings stemming from the difference between taxable and tax-exempt interest rates. A bond inducement is the first step in a bond transaction.
Dangote completes conversion to coal at cement plants 30 September 2016
Nigeria: Dangote Cement has switched to using coal at its cement plants in response to disruption to gas supplies and to lower input costs. The cement producer intends to use 12,000t/day of coal, according to Reuters. "All our cement plants have been converted to coal," said owner Aliko Dangote.
Tabuk Cement delays opening of second clinker line to 2017 30 September 2016
Saudi Arabia: Tabuk Cement says that its second clinker production line is expected to be commercially operational in the second quarter of 2017. The revised opening date is a delay from the original announced date of the third quarter of 2016. The cement producer has blamed the delay on ‘irregular non-compliance with the required capacity and specification’ of the second line. It added that the company will not incur additional costs due to the hold-up.
Vietnamese ministries ordered to revise cement industry strategy 30 September 2016
Vietnam: Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung has asked the ministries of industry and construction to revise the zoning plan for mineral mining for cement production and the cement industry development strategy to meet actual demand. The Ministry of Construction has said that the zoning plan to 2020, which was originally approved in 2010, needs changing following recent geological surveys, according to the Vietnam News Agency. The ministry is also compiling a cement industry development strategy for the 2017 - 2035 period with a vision towards 2025.
The construction ministry will collaborate with provinces and cities to look into the investment and exploitation of minerals for cement production, supply and demand for clinker and cement as well as using heat at cement plants for electricity generation. The country has 70 operational cement production lines with a production capacity of 82Mt/yr but consumption is 72Mt/yr. The government has approved shutting down 14 cement plants with a daily capacity of less than 2500t of clinker each, equivalent to 910,000t/yr, from the strategy since 2011.
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development helps to reduce carbon emissions from the Egyptian cement industry 29 September 2016
Egypt: The Egyptian cement industry could reduce its CO2 emissions by 2030 by following new recommendations in a report from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). These recommendations have been published in the EBRD’s report, ‘Policy roadmap for a Low-Carbon Egyptian Cement Industry,’ which highlights the need for decisive and collaborative action by the industry’s stakeholders in order to achieve a reduction in CO2 emissions.
“Improving environmental standards in the cement industry and offering commercial incentives is realistic and vital for the profitability of the sector,” said Philip ter Woort, the EBRD Director for Egypt.
The roadmap outlines recommendations for policy actions from the Egyptian government that may provide effective incentives for the cement industry to improve its energy efficiency and to reduce CO2 emissions. The report points out that the potential for improvement is high despite that 50% of the Egyptian cement industry’s production capacity was built after 2000, and is using up-to-date equipment and clinker kilns that use best available technology (BAT).
Until 2014, the Egyptian cement industry, one of the most energy intensive industries in the country, had primarily used state-subsidised natural gas and heavy fuel oil to fire its cement kilns. However, following a gradual phasing out of the energy subsidies, Egyptian cement companies have switched to using high CO2 intensive fuels such as coal and petcoke.
The roadmap suggests that in order to reduce CO2 emissions, the industry should reduce the clinker content in cement, increase the use of alternative fuels, improve electrical energy efficiency and use more renewable sources of energy. Under one of the more ambitious scenarios, 2.2Mt/yr of coal will no longer have to be imported by 2030, saving about US$200m. Furthermore this would lead to a reduction in CO2 emissions to about 2% below the historic level prior to the fuel switch. In addition the cement industry could increase its usage of alternative fuels substitution.
The report was initiated by the EBRD, in cooperation with Egypt’s Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency (EEAA), the Chamber of Building Materials Industries/Cement Industry Association (CBMI) and the Cement Sustainability Initiative (CSI) of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD).