September 2024
South Valley Cement to convert to coal for US$14m 01 February 2016
Egypt: South Valley Cement has signed a contract with Sinoma CDI to convert its plant to coal burning for US$14m. The contract is expected to be complete by April 2017. In August 2015 South Valley Cement signed a US$38m contract for Sinoma to build a grinding line for the plant.
Egypt: Denmark's FLSmidth has signed a contract with Arabian Cement Company (ACC) for operation and maintenance of the production lines at their cement plant near Suez. The contact covers five years of operation and maintenance of two production lines with a capacity of 6000t/day each. FLSmidth has been operating and maintaining the two lines since 2008 and 2010, respectively. Both lines were built by FLSmidth.
The scope of supply includes operation and maintenance of two clinker production lines, one coal mill, two alternative fuel handling and dosing installations, four cement mills and six packing lines. The operation and maintenance of the mills and packing lines is an addition to the current scope.
"Arabian Cement Company was our first operation and maintenance customer and we have supplied operation and maintenance services at their plant since 2008. The demonstrated performance over the past nearly eight years was the main motive for ACC to expand and continue the cooperation with us. The prolongation of the operation and maintenance contract illustrates the strength of our productivity enhancing 'Design-Build-Operate'-model, where we offer to design, build and operate customers' plants," said Group Executive Vice President, Cement Division, Per Mejnert Kristensen.
No value for the deal was disclosed. The contract will contribute beneficially to FLSmidth's earnings until the contract expires in early 2021.
Turkey: The Turkish Cement Manufacturers' Association (TÇMB) has signed a two-year labour agreement with the CIMSE-IS union. Under the terms of the deal workers wages will rise by 10.5% from 1 January 2016, according to CIMSE-IS and Reuters. Subsequently, workers will receive a raise on 1 Janaury 2017 based on an individual factory basis. Adana Çimento, Aslan Çimento, Unye Çimento, Mardin Çimento, Bursa Çimento and Bolu Çimento are members of the union.
US: Eagle Materials has reported that its earnings from its cement business rose by 11% year-on-year to US$41.8m in the third quarter of 2015. The earnings increase was attributed to a 4% increase in average net cement sales prices and record quarterly cement sales volumes.
Cement revenues for the third quarter rose by 9% to US$97.1m. Cement sales reached 1.2Mt, a rise of 1% year-on-year. Eagle also reported that its cement businesses in Texas and Oklahoma was impacted by heavy rains in October and December 2015 which resulted in lower sales volumes in both of those markets. Additionally, in Texas, increased demand for construction grade cement continues to offset much of the impact from lower oil well cement demand.
Asia Cement expects loss in 2015 29 January 2016
China: Asia Cement expects a loss for 2015 due to lower product selling prices and foreign exchange losses from US Dollar-denominated loans. The producer reported a net profit of US$120m in 2014. Its financial results for 2015 will be released by the end of March 2015.
Zambia: Lafarge Zambia has successfully commissioned a Cemengal Plug & Grind cement grinding plant in Ndola which will produce 100,000t/yr of cement and take the plant's total capacity to 500,000t/yr. It has been constructed on available land within the Ndola plant.
"This project has utilised very minimal amount of land. It is fitted with state-of-the art technology and has bag filters to aid environmental management," said Lafarge Zambia CEO, Emmanuel Rigaux. He added that the plant will produce Supaset Cement. This will be exported to the Democratic Republic of Congo and other neighbouring countries.
Also present at the event was the LafargeHolcim Group Area Manager for East Africa and Indian Ocean, Dominique Drouet who was on a three day visit to Zambia.
UK Competition and Markets Authority publishes final cement price announcement order 28 January 2016
UK: The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has published a final order affecting the suppliers of cement and cementitious products in Great Britain (GB). The order sets out these suppliers will be prohibited from sending generic price announcement letters to their customers. Instead, any price announcement letter will have to be specific and relevant to the customer receiving it, including setting out the last unit price paid, the new unit price and specific details of other charges that apply to the customer. The order is effective from 23 January 2016.
The order results from the Competition Commissions (CC) investigation into the supply or acquisition of aggregates, cement and ready-mix concrete in GB, which required Lafarge Tarmac to sell one of its cement plants and Hanson to sell one of its ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS) plants to enhance competition in the cement and GGBS markets. The CC also said that it would implement two further remedy measures aimed at reducing transparency in the GB cement markets, comprising a prohibition on generic cement price announcements and restrictions on the disclosure and publication of market data.
Jovein Cement wins environmental award 28 January 2016
Iran: Jovein Cement has won an award for most environmentally conscious cement manufacturer in Iran.
Reasons for winning the award included: the cement producer's efforts to extend the lifetime of its kiln refractory bricks by optimising the rate of production and thereby the energy consumption of natural gas; the recycling of refractory materials; investing in installing an online pollution analyser on the plant's main exhaust; using electro-filter technology to reduce the amount of cement dust and other general pollution released to the neighbouring community.
Future plans by Jovein Cement include the installation of a waste heat recovery system to recycle up to 30% of the heat generated by the plant. As an ancillary benefit the plant will also be able to heat water used at the site.
Uzbek cement plants to carry out energy-saving projects 27 January 2016
Uzbekistan: Qizilqumsement and Bekabad Cement intend to conduct energy saving projects at their plants by the end of 2020, according to local press.
Bekabad Cement, in partnership with the World Bank, is upgrading its aeration system and the products transportation system at its cement silos. The upgrade will save more than 3MkW/hr of electric power per year. The plant is also installing a new cement ball mill with a capacity of 135 – 150t/hr. This is planned to reduce power consumption by 20%.
Qizilqumsement plans to reduce its gas consumption by 46.6Mm3, and power consumption by 57MkW/hr. A clinker silo will be built, the clinker plant will be upgraded and the closed circuit cement milling will be launched for mill #7.
SCG Cement profit drops 22% in 2015 27 January 2016
Thailand: The cement business of Siam Cement Group (SCG) reported a 22% decrease in profit in 2015 to US$286m from US$368m in the 2014. Its revenue fell by 3% year-on-year to US$5bn from US$5.2bn. It blamed the performance on poor market recovery in Thailand. Overall, SCG reported increased profits due to its chemicals business.
"As for the progress of SCG's investments in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), we are continuing as planned and are able to accommodate and meet the market demand dynamics. The cement plant in Indonesia commenced commercial operation in November 2015, while the cement plants in Myanmar and Laos are expected to begin operation in the middle of 2016 and 2017, respectively. These investments are integral to the ability to support our market expansions and serve our ASEAN customers' demands," said Roongrote Rangsiyopash, President and CEO of SCG.
SCG expects that the ASEAN Economic Community will advance its businesses in key export markets in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam in 2016. Positive economic trends are also anticipated in Thailand due to government stimulus policies and projects.