September 2024
Cementos Molins profit falls by 77% to Euro10.1m in 2013 05 March 2014
Spain: Cementos Molins has reported 77% fall year-on-year in its profit in 2013 to Euro10.1m. The company blamed the decline in profit to a lack of one-off items on its balance sheet. Revenue fell by 9.4% to Euro832m and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell by 18.3% to Euro158m.
Kazakhstan: Karcement JSC, a subsidiary of Steppe Cement, has successfully completed the commissioning of its new dry-process Line 5. The new kiln line will increase Steppe Cement's total cement production capacity by 1.5Mt/yr.
Ministry of Industry and Information Technology sets timetable to eliminate out-dated cement production capacity 05 March 2014
China: The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has set a timetable for eliminating out-dated cement plants. The MIIT has requested that local governments in China work out structural adjustment plans for the cement industry before the end of March 2014 and propose detailed treatment measures towards on-going and finished contravening cement projects before the end of June 2014, according to the Xinhua Chinese news agency.
Hebei province has been asked to cut its cement production capacity by 60Mt/yr by 2017. Jiangsu province is to cut its production capacity by 10Mt/yr and Jiangxi province must cut its capacity by 5Mt/yr. The MIIT expects that cement production utilisation will be improved to over 75% by the end 2017 after the cement industry follows its measures. Emissions of dust and nitrogen oxide will be cut by more than 40% and the cement industry's average profit margin should be no less than the manufacturing industry's average.
Lafarge to build cement depot in east Zambia 05 March 2014
Zambia: Lafarge Zambia is building a cement depot in Chipata District, Eastern Province with an investment of US$0.7m. The depot will have a storage capacity of 3000t. Emmanuel Rigaux, managing director of Lafarge Zambia, said that Lafarge had decided to build the depot due to high demand for cement. However, he added that this new storage capacity would not be enough for the whole province and that the company would increase its number of warehouses depending on demand.
Moroccan King launches Ivory Coast cement packing plant 05 March 2014
Ivory Coast: King Mohammed VI of Morocco, with Ivorian Prime Minister Daniel Kablan Duncan, has launched a Euro12m cement packing plant in Abidjan. The plant has a bag production capacity of 80Mt/yr that can be extended to 160Mt/yr. The Africa-Cote d'Ivoire Cement company plant (CIMAF-Cote d'Ivoire), a subsidiary of Addoha Moroccan group, will supply bags for the group's cement projects in Cote d'Ivoire, Guinea Conakry, Cameroon, Burkina Faso, Gabon, Congo-Brazzaville, Niger and Mali.
As part of the delegation the Moroccan King and Duncan also visited a 0.5Mt/yr Addoha clinker plant in Abidjan. This unit has been operational since July 2013 and it imports clinker from the Addoha-subsidiary Ciment Atlas (CIMAT), which has two cement plants in Morocco.
ThyssenKrupp to build 6000t/day cement plant in Algeria 04 March 2014
Algeria: ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions has received an order to build a 6000t/day cement plant for Société des Ciments de Ain El Kebira (SCAEK), a subsidiary of Groupe Industriel des Ciments d'Algérie (GICA). The cement plant will be built in Ain El Kebira with start-up planned for 2016.
The order includes the supply of components for raw material processing, clinker manufacture and cement loading, the installation of a laboratory automation system for quality assurance and monitoring and the turnkey handover of the plant to the customer.
The key components are a 2000t/hr crusher for limestone and marl, a 500t/hr crusher for aggregates and a 50,000t capacity circular blending bed. Raw materials will be ground in two Polysius QUADROPOL QMR2 roller mills, with a throughput 350t/hr and a 30,000t homogenising silo will be used to store raw meal.
The kiln line comprises a five-stage, two-string PREPOL AS preheater, a 5.2 x 78m rotary kiln and a Polysius POLYTRACK cooler with intermediate crusher. Cement grinding will be carried out in three ball mills with high-efficiency SEPOL separators (5 x 14.5m, 6000kW central drive). Four storage silos each with a capacity of 20,000t of cement, four packaging lines, and six automatic and two manual loaders round out the plant. The Polysius POLAB laboratory automation system will be installed for quality monitoring and control.
Hazemag to supply crusher plant to Cemindo Gemilang 04 March 2014
Indonesia: Hazemag & EPR has won a contract to supply a large crushing plant for a Sinoma International Engineering cement plant project on behalf of PT Cemindo Gemilang. The completed cement plant will have a production capacity of 10,000t/day and will be situated in Bayah, Java. Delivery of the plant is scheduled for the end of 2014.
The crushing plant to be supplied consists of a large apron feeder and a wobbler feeder for pre-screening. The impact crusher, with a rotor diameter of 2.5m and a rotor width of 3.0m, is the largest impact crusher that Hazemag produces. The crushing plant also includes a smaller apron feeder to allow two different raw materials to be processed at the same time. The crusher is equipped with a GSK-rotor and a hydraulic impact apron support system HAZtronic®. The total plant capacity is 2500t/hr.
Philippines: Holcim Philippines is prepared for more competition with the integration of markets in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) region by 2015. Chief executive Eduardo Sahagun said that there is no reason that imports will be cheaper than local product especially considering the logistical costs of importing cement into an archipelago, according to the Manila Bulletin.
"We see opportunities in the greater integration of the ASEAN. Our view remains that the growth of cement demand in the medium term will be sustained but are considering other options to supply the market," said Sahagun. "I am hopeful that the government will support the local cement industry given that it is one of the few remaining integrated industries in the country. Local cement manufacturers are burdened by one of the highest energy costs in the region and an improvement in this area will go a long way to improve the industry's competitiveness."
In February 2014 Holcim Philippines announced that it may delay the construction of a US$550m cement plant in Bulacan province due to increasing economic integration in the ASEAN region.
Lafarge to invest US$1.37bn in Nigeria expansion 03 March 2014
Nigeria: Lafarge WAPCO intends to double its cement production capacity in Nigeria to 16Mt/yr with an investment of US$1.37bn by 2018. The proposed investment will enable Lafarge to complete the expansion of its cement plant in Calabar and the Ashaka Cement plant.
"Between 2009 and 2012 we invested over US$1.37bn in our operations," said Country Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Nigeria and Benin Republic, Guillaume Roux. He added that the expansion plan is in support of Nigeria's backward integration policy in cement production.
On a separate issue, Roux stated that a recent spate of building collapses was not caused by poor quality cement. He blamed the collapses on structural designs and poor usage of building materials by project handlers. He denied the existence of substandard cement in Nigeria, stating that "in Lafarge we put the control of the quality of cement at the forefront of our operation because we want to deliver very good quality products and services."
Lafarge Republic invests US$25m in upgrade at Bulacan 03 March 2014
Philippines: Lafarge Republic is investing US$25m towards building a new 0.85Mt/yr cement mill at its plant in Bulacan. The plant is expected to be operational by June 2015 following the commissioning of a mill at the Teresa cement plant, which is scheduled for January 2015.
Lafarge said in a statement that the projects will enable the company to produce an additional 1.7Mt of cement by 2015. The upgrades have been commissioned to meet an expected increase in demand in response to anticipated infrastructure spending of US$8.94bn by the Philippine government.