Displaying items by tag: Clinker

Thailand: Thai TPI Polene Public Co. Ltd. has placed an order with Germany's Siemens for engineering and supply of the power distribution system and drives for a new clinker production line at its existing plant in Saraburi, Thailand. Siemens will supply the drive solutions as well as the switch-gear for the high, medium and low-voltage distribution systems and is also responsible for project management and engineering.

The deal for the drive systems covers 20 slip-ring rotor motors for the main drives, 12 gear units, 33 variable-speed drives for fans and two multiple drive systems for cooling units. Operation is due to commence in October 2014.

The Thai cement producer had earlier decided to add a fourth production line at the factory to boost production capacity in view of rising demand. The new line will have a capacity of 12,000t/day of clinker. Upon completion, the four cement production lines at TPI Polene in Thailand will have a combined capacity of 12Mt/yr. 

Siemens has already supplied the Thai TPI Polene Public Company Limited with electrical equipment for the three existing clinker production lines as well as for the cement and coal mills.

China: Sinoma International has announced that its subsidiary Sinoma Construction has signed a US$277m contract to build a 6250t/day clinker production line for the United Cement Company of Nigeria's Calabar plant. Sinoma will be responsible for equipment and steel structure supply, design, installation, civil construction, commissioning and training in the whole process from mine crushing to cement shipping. Construction of the cement mill is planned to be completed by the end of 2015. Construction of the clinker line is planned to be finished by mid-2016.

India: Shree Cement started clinker production at its Bangur City, Ras unit in Pali District in state of Rajasthan on 20 June 2013. The plant has a production capacity of 6000t/day. Shree Cement has eight cement plants in Rajasthan and one grinding unit in Uttrakhand, with a production capacity of 9Mt/yr.

Bangladesh: Lafarge Surma Cement Ltd signed an agreement with Madina Cement Industries Ltd at a ceremony organised at the company's headquarters. Under the terms of the deal, Lafarge Surma will supply its high quality clinker to Madina Cement from its integrated plant at Chhatak to produce 
'Powercrete.' This will be subject to strict quality controls by employees of Lafarge Surma to ensure world-class quality that Lafarge Surma promises to deliver to its customers.

Furthermore the production process will follow the highest safety standards. Lafarge will shortly launch Powercrete, with the aim of strengthening its market position in Bangladesh.

India: A 4% rise in the entry tax on clinker in the Indian state of Assam has riled local cement producers. In the state budget, chief minister Tarun Gogoi had proposed to raise the entry tax on clinker from 2% to 6%, applicable only to small and medium units.

Industry sources quoted by the Telegraph of India said the proposal to raise the entry tax would adversely affect small grinding units in the state. "Given the budget proposal, there is an apprehension that the small units might not be able to bear the additional cost burden and become unviable," said a source.

The total procurement of clinker from outside Assam is estimated at 1.8Mt/yr, of which 24 small units procure 475,000/t. The source added that these units had invested US$74m in the state, employing over 3000 people directly or indirectly.

However, two large cement manufacturers - Cement Manufacturing Company Ltd (Star Cement, CMAL) and Meghalaya Cement Ltd (Topcem, MCL) - have been exempted from the tax. CMCL and MCL have units at Sonapur and Amingaon in Assam respectively. The source added that these large units had invested up to US$92m in the state, creating jobs for about 600 people.

"The government has accorded mega project status to large cement manufacturers, exempting them from entry tax, but imposed the same on small units. This is contrary to its vision of development," said Dilip Goenka, director of KD Cement.

Nepal: Nepalese cement plants are increasingly using their self-produced clinker for cement production in Nepal. In 2011 three cement manufacturers, Siddhartha, Bridge and Supreme, all based in the Lumbini Industrial Corridor, used to rely on clinker imported from India. Now, they produce more than 90% of the clinker that they require. These highlights show that areas of the country are slowly moving towards self-reliance on clinker.

According to cement producers quoted by the Katmandu Post, Nepal requires around 3Mt/yr of clinker. Of the total demand, only 18% is fulfilled by domestic production. With such demand, more domestic cement producers are starting clinker production. Sarbottam Cement, promoted by Saurav Group, and another cement factory of Dugar Group are also planning to start clinker production.

"There are a lot of hassles while importing clinker from India. If the industrial environment is improved, clinker import will not be required within the next three years," said Rajesh Agrawal, managing director of Argakhachi Cement. "It will save US$416.7m/yr."

In a bid to make the country self-reliant on clinker, the government recently decided to ban clinker imports within five years. According to the Industrial Promotion Board, domestic cement producers should either produce clinker on their own or manufacture cement by using clinker produced by Nepalese manufacturers after the imposition of the ban.

Iran: In January 2013 the seasonal decline of cement demand in Iran led to large stocks of clinker in some plants. For example: ShahreCord Cement currently has around 0.45Mt of clinker, Momtazan Cement has a clinker stock of 0.37Mt, NeizarGhom Cement has 0.2Mt of clinker, Hormozgan Cement has 0.39Mt, Naein Cement has 0.36Mt and Lamerd Cement has 0.19Mt of clinker.

Kenya: Court papers have started to reveal why the Kenyan government may have dismissed the directors of the East African Portland Cement Company (EAPCC) on 22 December 2011. The papers allege that the board spent US$11m on goods without following competitive bidding and in another instance overruled the tender committee to vary the terms of a clinker contract.

"Those purchases were made by direct procurement or restricted tendering," an affidavit by acting Industrialisation Minister Amason Kingi said. "These processes were not authorised by the Public Procurement Oversight Authority."

According to the affidavit, the irregular purchases were made between 15 August 2011 and 30 November 2011. Mr Kingi said that the Kenya National Audit Office had raised a query over the expenditure of US$140,000 that was overpaid to the chairman, Mark ole Karbolo, and the suspended directors.

The affidavit also said that the board changed the terms of a contract to supply 140,000t of clinker after the supplier, Sanghi Industrial, requested to increase the price after supplying only 67,000t. After the company's tender committee rejected the increase, the board granted the variation which ended up costing the company US$850,000.

"The suspended board overruled the tender committee and awarded a price increase for the delivered products as well as for further products to be delivered," said Kingi. The government said that it could not reveal more without jeopardising a forensic audit currently under way.

The ousted directors have previously blamed their removal from office on a multi-million dollar tender that the government wanted swayed in favour of a local supplier. They said that the award of the kiln upgrade contract to South Korean firm, Posco Plantec, in late November 2011 had upset government officials who wanted the tender given to construction firm H Young for US$43m.

EAPCC's directors settled on Posco Plantec on the strength of its financial bid of US$21m. H Young, however, had a superior technical bid. Karbolo and three other directors, Titus Naikuni, Hamish Keith and chief executive Kephar Tande, are seeking to reverse the minister's decision, arguing that EAPCC is not a state-controlled company.