September 2024
Semen Indonesia signs transportation optimisation memorandum with Kereta Api Indonesia 30 November 2020
Indonesia: Semen Indonesia has signed a memorandum of understanding with rail freight company Kereta Api Indonesia (KAI). Indonesia Government News has reported that the memorandum covers a planned increase in cooperation on rail-based transportation and medium and long-term land leases, the conduct of joint studies into railways and infrastructure and the development of other forms of potential cooperation.
President director Hendi Prio Santoso said, “This cooperation is a synergy to complement each other and provide the best results for both parties. Through the synergy that exists today, it is hoped that it can be more optimal in taking advantage of every opportunity, so that it can further contribute to the company, Badan Usaha Milik Negara (BUMN) and the Indonesian nation.” He added, “Today is the first step in a joint commitment. Hopefully, this cooperation can run smoothly and in accordance with our goals, expectations and planned target time.”
East African Portland Cement Company alleges illegal mining by China Road and Bridges Corporation 30 November 2020
Kenya: East African Portland Cement Company (EAPCC) has threatened “recovery proceedings” in relation to the alleged unlawful extraction of building materials on the producer’s land in Mavoko County by China Road and Bridges Corporation (CRBC). EAPCC says that it has twice contacted the construction company, which is engaged in building the Nairobi Expressway toll road, to order it to desist, according to the Business Daily newspaper.
Acting managing director Stephen Nthei said, “The company cannot violate the country’s laws when constructing a commercial road. Any mining activities will devalue our land when we are eyeing prospective buyers. We might be forced to institute recovery proceedings against this company.”
The cement producer is seeking a buyer for the parcels of land, which are also home to illegal squatters.
Uzbekistan: The Ministry of Energy says that it has not shut off the electricity supply to various cement plants, as alleged within private messaging channels. It stated the example of the Okhangaran cement plant, which, during the alleged shutdown, was received a recorded 605,000kWh of power on 24 November 2020, up by 12% from its average supply of 540,000kWh/day.
The ministry said, “Anyone who disseminates any information to a specific audience needs to clearly understand their responsibility.”
Pakistan: Pioneer Cement has begun power generation at its upgraded 24MW coal-fired power plant. Link News has reported that the plant previously had a power generation capacity of 12MW.
Shiva Cement to spend US$200m on new integrated plant in Odisha 27 November 2020
India: Shiva Cement plans to invest around US$200m towards a new integrated cement plant in Sundergarh district, Odisha. The 1.36Mt clinker unit will also include a 1Mt/yr grinding unit, an 8MW waste heat recovery (WHR) unit, 4Mt/yr crushing plants at its dolomite and limestone quarries, a connecting 10km belt conveyor and a dedicated railway siding with a 12km track to the main network.
ThyssenKrupp Industries India will supply a 4000t/day clinker production line for the project. Larsen & Toubro has been awarded the contract for civil, mechanical and refractory erection work. The unit is expected to create around 500 jobs directly and indirectly. Commissioning is scheduled to take place by March 2022.
Parth Jindal, the managing director of JSW Cement said, "The new clinker unit at Shiva Cement in Odisha will provide a strategic advantage to service the needs of our customers in the region and further strengthen JSW Cement's leadership position in the Green Cement category in India.”
The subsidiary of JSW Cement intends to use the new plant as a strategic hub to access markets in the east of the country. It is part of the group’s aim to achieve a production capacity of 25Mt/yr by 2025.
Algeria: Groupe des Ciments d'Algérie (GICA) has completed the export of 41,000t of clinker to Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Algeria Press Service has reported that the company exported the clinker, produced at the Hadjar Soud (SCHS) cement plant, from the port of Annaba.
Chief executive officer (CEO) Youcef Merabet said, “Hadjar Soud cement plant, which operates two production lines totalling 0.9Mt/yr of cement production capacity, will promote its exports in 2021 especially as the demand for clinker will exceed 200,000t.”
HeidelbergCement considers relocation of Italcementi’s Bergamo research centre to Germany 27 November 2020
Italy: Germany-based HeidelbergCement is reportedly considering a relocation of its subsidiary Italcementi’s research centre from Bergamo, Lombardy to Heidelberg in Baden Württemberg, Germany. The Italia Oggi newspaper has reported that Italcementi said, "The reorganisation of innovation and product research activities will be concentrated on a global level to better enhance the important skills acquired in Bergamo, making them available to all the countries that are part of the group. The process of relocation to Heidelberg of the research activities will be defined in detail during 2021 and at the same time all the possible solutions for the workers involved will be implemented through internal or external relocation offers."
The proposed move has attracted local resistance. Chamber of Deputies member for Lombardy Maurizio Martina said, “All the institutions, from the national government to the regional council, must promote an initiative to discuss with the owners the choice of moving the HeidelbergCement research centre to the German headquarters. The agreements signed in 2016 were different: we are talking about one of the most important research centres in the world, which brings quality employment and added value to Bergamo and Lombardy, and it is essential to do everything to ensure that it remains in our territory."
Zimbabwe: LafargeHolcim subsidiary Lafarge Cement Zimbabwe has said that cement demand has increased by 34% quarter-on-quarter in the third quarter of 2020 following the end of the national coronavirus lockdown. Business Weekly News has reported that the company said that cement demand in July 2020 was the highest in that month since July 2003 due to a 7% year-on-year sales rise.
Company chair Kumbirai Katsande said, “As business activity progressively continued to gain momentum into the third quarter of 2020, the demand for cement consequently outstripped supply, causing considerable supply backlog.” Katsande said that the shortage will ease as demand decreases “associated with rainfall” in the fourth quarter of 2020.
Competition and Markets Authority contacts Hanson UK over potential market data breach 27 November 2020
UK: The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has written to HeidelbergCement subsidiary Hanson UK to express concern and set out actions to prevent a recurrence of a breach of a market data order for “data disclosed which could have been a proxy for Individual Cement Market Data.” The CMA says that on 11 September 2020 Hanson made a payment in error to the Mineral Products Association (MPA) which involved three pieces of information: the payment; relating to MPA subscription fees, remittance advice relating to the payment; and an invoice following the MPA’s querying of the payment. In the view of the CMA each piece of information breached the Cement Market Data Order, because it contained ascertainable cement volume data information.
Hanson has explained that the breach arose due to administrative error.
Vietnam: The General Department of Vietnam Customs has reported total cement and clinker exports in the first ten months of 2020 of 31.6Mt, up by 19% year-on-year from 26.5Mt in the corresponding period of 2019. The Viet Nam News newspaper has reported that the value of exports rose by 7% to US$1.78bn. China bought 18Mt, worth US$611m, corresponding to 57% by volume and 34% by value of Vietnam’s cement and clinker exports.
In October 2020 Vietnam exported 3.58Mt of cement, down by 18% month-on-month from 4.37Mt in September 2020, at a total value of US$142m, down by 12% from US$160m.