Displaying items by tag: Algeria

Algeria: Ahmed Zeghdar, the Minister of Industry, says that he will help reduce the difficulties that Groupe des Ciments d'Algérie (GICA) faces with its exports. During a meeting with the management of GICA the minister said that the government would assist with logistical problems linked to sea and land transport, according to the Expression newspaper. He also urged the company to increase its exports due to high domestic cement production capacity. GICA produced over 11Mt of cement in 2020 and this is expected to rise to nearly 17Mt in 2021. Its exports reached a value of nearly US$600m in 2020 and are forecast to reach US$1bn in 2021.

Algeria: Groupe des Ciments d'Algérie (GICA) subsidiaries Société des Ciments de Hamma Bouziane (SCHB) and Société des Ciments de Ain El Kebira (SCAEK) are planning to export 50,000t of cement to West Africa. The L’Expression newspaper has reported that SCHB will supply 35,000t of the cement, and SCAEK will supply the remainder. SCHB produced 0.8Mt of cement in 2020.

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.”

Algeria: The Ain El Kebira (SCAEK) cement plant near Setif, part of the Industrial Cement Group of Algeria (GICA), has launched an operation to export 40,000t of clinker to the Dominican Republic. The company has already been marketed its products in Senegal, Ivory Coast, Guinea, Peru and Brazil, according to the Algeria Press Service. SCAEK has already exported 0.55Mt of clinker to countries in Africa and South America. The cement producer plans to export 0.75Mt of clinker in 2020.

Algeria: The Ministry of Trade has drawn up a plan for the export of Algeria’s 20Mt/yr surplus cement, over 1.0Mt/yr of which is already being exported to Niger and other West African neighbours. Algeria Press Service has reported that the plan involves the country opening its land and sea borders for the cement, which constitutes 50% of the country’s 40Mt/yr total cement production.

Trade Minister Kamel Rexig said, “The surplus production will be exported and will thus guarantee an inflow of money amounting to US$900m/yr. The ministry has identified 10 national zones of production, including the export of cement, as a strategy for the year 2021.” He added, “The efforts made by economic and industrial operators to increase the volume of production intended for export in cement deserve to be encouraged.”

Algeria’s cement capacity first exceeded domestic consumption in 2017, prior to which it relied on cement imports from Tunisia.

Algeria/Belarus: Belarus-based automobiles producer Belaz says that it has received an order for twelve dump trucks from Groupe des Ciments d'Algérie (GICA), Algeria’s leading cement producer with 13.5Mt/yr installed cement production capacity. Business World Magazine News has reported that the company will use the trucks for conveying raw materials in its Saoura quarry in Adrar Province. It previously bought twelve 60t-capacity Belaz-7555I trucks and nine front-loaders in mid-2020. The latest order is due for arrival in September 2020.

Belaz produces the 450t-capacity Belaz-75710, the largest-capacity dump truck in the world.

Tunisia: The Ministry of Industry and Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises has issued a decree authorising the use of polypropylene cement bags, with the aim of increasing the competitiveness of Tunisian cement against rival Turkish products on the Libyan market. The Economiste Maghrebin newspaper has reported that the loss of a valuable exporter market following Algeria’s attainment of a cement surplus led the ministry to enact the cost-cutting policy. In January 2020, Algeria enacted a progressive prohibition on this type of packaging with a view to a blanket ban from 1 January 2021.

Minister of Industry and Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises Salah Ben Youssef says that his department “submitted a report on the impacts of the use of polypropylene packaging for cement to the Ministry of the Environment in May 2020 and received no reply,” but implemented the initiative because it was the only viable alternative to kraft bags, which he says are “overpriced due to monopolies in raw materials and assembly.” Ben Youssef said that polypropylene bags, which are permitted for use in food, lime, animal feed and fertilisers packaging, are “both recyclable and reusable,” and would enable the Tunisian cement industry to become self-sufficient in serving its bagging needs. As a further cost-cutting measure, Ben Youssef proposed that the government establish a solar power plant in order to reduce cement companies’ total energy bills by US$5.13m/yr.

The 16Mt/yr-capacity Tunisian cement sector, which includes international companies such as Carthage Cement and Brazil-based Votorantim Cimentos subsidiary La Cimenterie de Jbel Oust, produced 11Mt of cement in 2019 against a domestic demand of 7.0Mt.

Switzerland: LafargeHolcim says that net sales in each of its five regions ‘returned to prior-year levels by the end of June 2020’ following the easing of coronavirus-related lockdowns. Its net sales fell by 10.8% year-on-year to Euro9.95bn in the first half of 2020 on a like-for-like basis due to the ‘severe’ impact of the lockdowns on construction sites in several of its main operating countries. It also blamed negative currency effects for an additional fall in sales. Its recurring earnings before interest and taxation (EBIT) dropped by 22% to Euro1.11bn. Its net debt decreased by 15.8% to Euro9.91bn from Euro11.8bn. Cement sales volumes fell by 13.1% to 87.2Mt, aggregates by 6% to 114Mt and ready-mix concrete (RMC) by 18.6% to 19.2Mm3.

Group chief executive officer Jan Jenisch said, “Our half-year results demonstrate the great resilience of our business. I’m encouraged by our team’s agility to weather the storm with the rapid execution of our ‘Health, Cost & Cash’ action plan, effectively driving cost savings ahead of expectations, improving net working capital and delivering record free cash flow.” He added, “The peak of the crisis is behind us. We expect a solid second half of the year based on June’s full recovery, the trend of our order book and upcoming government stimulus packages.”

By region the group noted the most severe coronavirus-related disruption in Asia-Pacific despite China delivering a full recovery and growing sales volumes by the end of the second quarter. In Europe lockdowns in the UK and France had a particular impact and it said that, “volumes suggest a V-shaped recovery in June 2020 for the majority of markets, except in the UK.” Significant impacts were noted in Ecuador, Colombia and El Salvador in Latin America. Sales volumes declined in Algeria, Egypt, Iraq and South Africa in the group’s Middle East Africa region but Nigeria delivered a ‘resilient’ performance. Finally, North America was the groups best performing region with slight dips in cement and aggregate sales volumes but a rise in RMX and rising recurring EBIT. This was attributed to, “fast and effective cost management in the US.”

Algeria: The Aïn Touta Cement (SCIMAT) plant near Batna has been awarded two conformity certificates, according to the Ministry of Industry and Mining. The subsidiary of Public Industrial Cement Group of Algeria (GICA) has earned ISO 45001: 2018, relating to the occupational health and safety management system, and ISO 50001: 2018, related to energy management.

Algeria: Fives has reported that it has installed and produced a batch of clinker with a new 6000t/day FCB kiln line at Entreprise des Ciments et Dérivés d'El Chellif (ECDE)’s integrated 1.0Mt/yr Chlef cement plant. When commissioned, the line will bring the plant’s capacity to 3.2Mt/yr.