September 2024
China: With effect from 26 May 2014, Wong Ka Hang resigned from her office as Allied Cement's company secretary. With effect from 26 May 2014 Li Chun Fung has been appointed as her replacement.
Italy: FLSmidth Ventomatic SpA a supplier of complete plants and single machines for high-accuracy and high-capacity storage, packaging and dispatching of products for the cement and building material industry, has strengthened its position in the minerals and chemical industries through the consolidation of its partnerships Imeco(R) and Italmeccanica, both with long-standing experience in the packaging of powdery and granulated products.
Thanks to these two strong business partnerships, Ventomatic says that it is now in the position to 'design, manufacture and supply' bagging solutions that are specifically designed for the dosing and weighing of cement, dry mortars and other building materials and industrial minerals into valve bags, open mouth bags and fill, form and seal bags.
India: India Cements plans to merge with its subsidiary, Trinetra Cements. N Srinivasan, vice-chairman and managing director of India Cements, said that the company wanted to consolidate cement operations. The merger will also include Trishul Concrete Products and involve selling land near its plants in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.
"We will get the benefit of profitability of Trinetra and improve the performance of India Cements," said Srinivasan. He adding that, following the merger, the total cement production capacity of India Cements would rise to 15.8Mt/yr.
For its first quarterly results in 2014 India Cements reported a net loss of US$5.19m. The company has also been under a corporate debt-restructuring scheme since January 2003, which ended in March 2014 with a US$9.69m charge. India Cements has a production capacity of 15.5Mt/yr. It has seven integrated cement plants in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, one in Rajasthan (through Trinetra Cements) and two grinding units, one each in Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra.
Ecuador: Lafarge has announced the sale of its cement operations in Ecuador for an enterprise value of US$553m to Union Andina de Cementos (UNACEM). Lafarge Cementos SA operates an integrated cement plant with a production capacity of 1.4Mt/yr in Otavalo.
The divestment will contribute to Lafarge's objective to reduce its net debt below Euro9bn in 2014. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions.
Nippon Paper to sell fly ash 28 May 2014
Japan: Nippon Paper Industries has announced that it will jointly launch a new project with Zerotechno, located in Oita city, to produce and sell fly ash to the cement industry. Both companies will establish the Nippon Paper Zerotechno Tohoku limited liability partnership on 1 July 2014, which is to be based at the site of Nippon Paper Ishinomaki Mill in Ishinomaki city, Miyagi prefecture. The purpose of the project is to contribute to restoration of Tohoku district from the earthquake disaster by expanding use of carbon-free fly ash derived from coal ash that coal-fired boilers emit at Ishinomaki Mill.
Bolivia: A Spanish-German consortium, formed by Imasa, Polysius and Valoriza, intends to build a US$244m cement plant in Bolivia. The consortium has received the order from Bolivia's state-run cement producer Empresa Publica Productiva Cementos de Bolivia (Ecebol).
The new factory will be located in the Oruro department near a limestone quarry that has reserves of 209Mt. This has the capability to supply raw material for 90 years. The plant will have an annual production capacity of 1.3Mt/yr.
Russia: Novoroscement plans to launch a cement production line at its Pervomaisky plant near Novorossiysk. The plant will have a cement production capacity of 2.2Mt/yr and Euro250m has been invested in the project.
Russia: Sberbank and Eurocement signed a cooperation agreement at the XVIII St Petersburg International Economic Forum to secure funding for expansion by the Russian cement producer. Herman Gref, the bank's CEO and Chairman of the Board, signed the agreement for Sberbank and Filaret Galchev, the Chairman of the Board of Directors, signed for Eurocement, according to SKRIN Newswire.
The agreement also stipulates that the two parties will cooperate on a whole range of issues, from settlement and cash services to the provision of investment and banking products (via Sberbank CIB1) and other financial services, both for Eurocement group itself and for its affiliates and dependent companies.
"The signing of the agreement with Sberbank will serve as a guarantee that the Holding company's investment programme will receive sufficient funding until 2018 and that the transition to the active phase of the construction of new cement manufacturing facilities will be made. The implementation of this project will give a significant boost to growth in Russia's construction sector as a whole, by providing high-quality cement for infrastructural and residential projects in the country," said Filaret Galchev, the Chairman of the Board of Directors at Eurocement.
Semen Indonesia expands operations 27 May 2014
Asia: PT Semen Indonesia's subsidiary PT Semen Padang has commenced construction of its US$279.5m Indarung VI cement plant in Padang, West Sumatra on 26 May 2014. The new plant, which has an annual cement production capacity of 3Mt/yr, is expected to commence operations in the second half of 2016.
"We are developing the Indarung VI factory as the demand for cement keeps increasing across Sumatra and western parts of Java," said Dwi Soetjipto, CEO of PT Semen Indonesia. With the operation of the new plant, Semen Padang's total cement production capacity is expected to increase to 10.5Mt/yr, up from 7.5Mt/yr.
Brisk development of property, toll roads, and other infrastructure projects has pushed up demand for cement in East Java. "Demand for cement in the country has increased. All cement production is absorbed by the market for government and private properties and infrastructure projects," Bambang Djoko claimed. The commercial director of PT Semen Gresik Aunur Rosyid said that cement sales in West Java reached 2.83Mt in the first four months of 2014, an increase of 9.8% from 2.56Mt in 2013. "The growth exceeded the 3.7% growth of cement sales nationally in the same year," said Rosyid.
Elsewhere, PT Semen Indonesia has announced that it may acquire a cement plant in Bangladesh as part of its efforts to expand business. Soetjipto stated that the Bangladeshi cement plant has a production capacity of 0.60 – 1Mt/yr.
"We are now in the process of approaching the management of the plant for further negotiations. Hopefully, it can be realised in the coming six months," Soetjipto said. He was reluctant to reveal financial details, saying that the acquisition value was less than that made for Thang Long Cement in Vietnam. In November 2012 Semen Indonesia acquired 70% of Thang Long Cement (worth US$157m) from Geleximco.
Soetjipto also disclosed that Thang Long Cement will build a new plant in Rembang, Central Java in June 2014. "We will begin the construction of a new plant in Rembang in mid-June 2014," he remarked. He explained that with the development of new factories in Padang and Rembang and upgrades to the existing plants, Semen Indonesia will have a combined production capacity of 40.8Mt/yr by 2017.
PT Semen Indonesia hopes to boost its sales in Vietnam by expanding the production capacity of its Vietnamese subsidiary Thang Long Cement. " Thang Long Cement's market share in Vietnam is relatively small at around 2.3Mt/yr, but its market potential is huge," said Thang Long Cement executive Bambang Djoko.
HeidelbergCement India’s net profit rises 27 May 2014
India: HeidelbergCement India's net profits rose to US$8.12m during the quarter that ended in March 2014, compared with US$373,296 of profit during the same period of 2013. Net sales were US$67.0m during the quarter, up by 7.6% year-on-year from US$62.3m.