Displaying items by tag: Clinker

Armenia: The Armenian government has extended restrictions on the import of cement and clinker from Iran and ‘other countries’ for another six months on 28 November 2024.

The restrictions were first adopted on 13 January 2022 and have been repeatedly extended since then. The latest decision takes effect on 20 January 2025 and is valid until 20 July 2025.

As a result, domestic cement production increased to 1.14Mt in 2023, a rise of 13% year-on-year, while clinker imports rose by 125,200t (19%) and cement imports increased to approximately 270,000t. During the first eight months of 2024, cement imports rose to 305,100t, a 260% increase compared to the same period in 2023, due to lower Iranian cement prices. Concurrently, local cement production declined by 31% to 485,900t in the first half of 2024.

Azerbaijan: Cemex has won the Net-Zero Industries Award for its clinker decarbonisation process using concentrated solar power. The award was presented at COP29 in Baku. Cemex’s solar clinker project is a collaboration with cleantech company Synhelion, which developed the high-temperature solar heat technology it uses. Cemex and Synhelion partnered in 2019 and achieved the first successful production of solar clinker in 2022.

Davide Zampini, vice president of Global R&D at Cemex, said "Together with Synhelion, we are pioneering solar-powered clinker production, a breakthrough process that can contribute to decarbonising cement manufacturing."

India: UltraTech Cement has entered a new transport service contract to deploy about 100 electric vehicles for the transportation of 75,000t/month of clinker from its cement plant Dhar Cement Works in Madhya Pradesh to its grinding unit Dhule Cement Works in Maharashtra, 200km away. This expansion aims to reduce CO₂ emissions by 17,000t/yr. The initiative follows a successful pilot launched in January 2024, in which the company deployed five electric trucks for the transport of clinker on this route, as well as the deployment of charging infrastructure and training. UltraTech is evaluating additional routes for further electric truck deployment and plans to conduct another pilot with a similar model. The company aims to increase its electric truck fleet to 500 by June 2025 as part of India's eFAST initiative.

Zimbabwe: The government is looking at consolidating limestone deposits as part of the new Zimbabwe Industrial Reconstruction and Growth Plan. This plan aims to increase domestic clinker production so that ‘costly’ clinker imports are reduced, according to The Zimbabwean newspaper. The government hopes that the consolidation plan will stabilise the raw material supply chain, providing cement manufacturers with a steady source of limestone to meet demand without production interruptions. Zimbabwe’s cement industry reportedly has an installed capacity of 2.6Mt/yr, but only produces 1.65Mt/yr, with imports exceeding US$59m in 2023. The national demand is estimated at 1.8Mt/yr.

In order to support domestic production, the plan recommends increasing the cement import licence fee from US$100 to US$500 per 30t and reducing the electricity tariff from US$0.16/kWh to US$0.10/kWh.

Peru: National cement dispatch fell by 2% year-on-year to 1.06Mt in September 2024, according to a report by ASOCEM, the cement manufacturers’ association of Peru. Cement production rose slightly by 0.2% year-on-year to 997,000t, while clinker production dropped by 19% to 661,000t. Cement exports declined by 1% year-on-year to 11,500t, and clinker exports decreased by 45% to 37,400t. However, cement imports increased by 0.5% compared to September 2023 to 21,000t, and clinker imports rose by 34% to 84,000t.

Saudi Arabia: In 2023, Saudi cement and clinker exports exceeded 8.48Mt. According to Al Riyadh news, the country ranks 10th globally with a production capacity of over 80Mt/yr from 20 plants. Local demand for cement reached 47.3Mt in 2023, with construction sector spending expected to hit US$1.6tn by 2030.

Minister of industry and mineral resources Bandar Alkhorayef said "The cement sector in the Kingdom has a promising future, with several leading companies constantly adopting the latest manufacturing technologies, helping to improve production efficiency. Recently, some companies have been active in upgrading and replacing some of their production lines to enhance quality."

Colombia: Cementos Argos says that it exported 1.5Mt of cement and clinker through its terminals at the Argos Cartagena cement plant in the first nine months of 2024, up by 10% year-on-year from the volumes recorded in the corresponding period of 2023. The plant exports cement and clinker to the US and Caribbean and Central American countries. Its terminals give a combined loading capacity of 1000t/hr of cement or 800t/hr of clinker.

Plant manager Alberto Carlos Riobó said "In 2022, we launched the port expansion project for our Free Trade Zone and, since then, we have continued to invest in the realisation of a dream that has allowed us to export products on a larger scale, receive a larger number of vessels with greater capacity, and continue serving markets beyond our borders. In this way, we continue to confirm that the customer is at the heart of our decisions.”

India: Orient Cement has won an order from Madhya Pradesh Power Generating Co to install a clinker grinding unit at Satpura Thermal Power Station, Sarni. The ‘work order’ was issued by the company to install the grinding unit, along with a 25-year fly ash supply contract. Earlier in August 2024, Orient Cement said that it anticipates a robust demand recovery in the second half of the financial year post-monsoon.

Colombia: Ultracem's general manager, Julián Vásquez, has announced plans to establish a clinker kiln in the municipality of Galapa with an investment of US$100m. This new facility aims to eliminate the need to import clinker, which is currently sourced from Turkey, Vietnam, and Spain. The kiln is expected to be operational within two years.

Vásquez said "This will give us competitive advantages and will involve increasing the workforce from the 1200 direct and indirect jobs we generate today by 20%."

Vietnam: The Philippines, Bangladesh and Taiwan were the leading importers of Vietnamese cement and clinker in the first eight months of 2024, reports the General Department of Vietnam Customs. The Philippines imported 5.35Mt valued at US$214.3m, seeing a decline of 1.8% in volume and 12.97% in value year-on-year. Bangladesh followed, purchasing 4.18Mt worth US$133.9m, up by 5.2% in volume but down 11.4% in value compared to the previous year. Taiwan ranked third, importing 994,735t valued at US$35.5m, with decreases of 17.2% in volume and 24.5% in value year-on-year.

From January to August 2024, Vietnam's total earnings from cement and clinker exports reached US$788.8m from over 20.5Mt, marking a decrease of 3.2% in volume and 14.5% in value year-on-year.