Displaying items by tag: Bolivia

US: A US federal court has upheld the ruling of a Colorado district court that Mexico-based Grupo Cementos de Chihuahua (GCC) must pay around US$36m compensation to Compañía de Inversiones Mercantiles (CIMSA) for failing to grant it a right of preference prior to GCC’s sale of its 47% stake in Sociedad Boliviana de Cemento (SOBOCE).

Peru-based Consorcio Cementero del Sur obtained 100% ownership of Bolivia-based SOBOCE following its acquisition of GCC’s stake in 2011.

Bolivia: Fábrica Nacional de Cemento (Fancesa) has announced that no cuts will be made to transport spending until after the end of the coronavirus lockdown. Plans to reduce operating expenditure in this area have been opposed by the company’s drivers. Fancesa head of transportation Jhonny Palma said, “Both parties now have the time to analyse the proposals. In due course we will present our operating cost sheets and these will be put up for debate.”

Mexico: Elementia’s first quarter sales were US$49.0m, down by 5.0% year-on year from US$52.0m in 2019. Group earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) was US$20.4m, down by 7.0% from US$22.0m in the first quarter 2019. Cement volumes fell by 11% year-on-year to 1.08Mt from 1.22Mt.

The company suspended all operations in Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador from 20 March 2020 and in Colombia and El Salvador from 30 March 2020. It says that it has moved its 2020 strategic focus to ‘inventory reduction and sustained US cement growth.’

Spain: Coronavirus has forced the suspension of operations at all Cementos Molins facilities, in accordance with a royal decree. Europa Press has reported that the company began the progressive shutdown of the 1.6Mt/yr integrated line at its Sant Vincenç dels Horts cement plant in Barcelona, Catalonia, on 31 March 2020, and switched off the plant on 2 April 2020.

Cementos Molins said that it has already suspended production in Argentina, Uruguay, Bolivia, Colombia and Tunisia. It says it has ‘implemented the teleworking model in the areas of the company where its application is possible.’

Bolivia: Antonio Pino, Vice Minister of Hydrocarbons, says that a new gas pipeline will have to be built to supply the Potosí cement plant at Chiutara. This may delay the start of the new plant to as late as early 2022, according to the El Potosí newspaper. The 1.3Mt/yr integrated unit was previously planned to start operation in February 2020.

The project was supported by the country’s previous government administration through the creation of Empresa Publica Productiva Cementos de Bolivia (ECEBOL. The plant is being built by Sociedad Accidental Imasa Polysius, a joint venture created by Polysius and Imasa.

Bolivia: Empresa Minera Industrial’s 0.1Mt/yr integrated cement plant has resumed operations across both dry lines following a fuel shortage. Tinformas has reported that a natural gas shortage caused the suspension of operations in November 2019 following an attack on a pipeline.

Colombia: Empresa Colombiana de Cementos (EcoCementos), a 50-50 joint venture between Colombian multinational Organizacion Corona and Spanish-based Cementos Molins, has announced the start of production at its new 1.5Mt/yr integrated cement plant at Sonson, Antioquia province. The plant, which was constructed with an investment of US$380m, mines limestone from its own quarry and will produce Alion brand cement for the Colombian market. The unit is increases Cementos Molins’ first in Columbia. It already produces and trades cement via its subsidiaries in Argentina, Bolivia and Uruguay.

Paraguay: Bolivia-based Itacamba Cemento has increased its cement exports to Paraguay in the eight months to 31 August 2019 to 38,000t, 10% of the latter’s market demand. This represents an increase of 322% compared to 9000t in the same period of 2018. Pagina Siete has reported that the company additionally imported 36,000t of clinker, a 32% decrease of from 53,000t in the eight months to August 2018. Itacamba Cemento general manager Alexander Capela has expressed the company’s desire to use the Paraguay-Paraná Waterway to export surplus finished product, mainly to wholesale distributors in Asunción. The company aims to consolidate its 1.2Mt/yr capacity to meet Bolivia’s increasing domestic demand, currently 4.5Mt/yr.

Itacamba Cemento began exporting cement to Paraguay in 2017 due to the favourable exchange rate and hence a high profit margin for Bolivian produce exchanged for Paraguayan guaraní.

Bolivia: Empresa Publica Productiva Cementos de Bolivia’s (ECEBOL) new integrated cement plant at Caracollo in Oruro has been inaugurated. President Evo Morales attended the event for the 1.3Mt/yr plant, according to the Correo del Sur newspaper. The project had an investment of US$306m and it was built by a consortium of Sacyr, Imasa and Polysius.

Bolivia: The Bolivian parliament has approved draft legislation prioritising the use of locally produced cement by local government and state-owned companies for infrastructure projects and road construction. The law will support the opening of two new cement plants at Potosí and Oruro in late 2019, according to El Potosi. The new rules further extend a decree announced in March 2019.