Displaying items by tag: Clinker

China: Anhui Conch has suspended production at three of its production lines at the cement plant run by its Tongling Conch subsidiary at Gusheng in Anhui province. The suspension has followed the temporary closure of a pier used by the plant in late May 2018 in accordance with new government regulations on drinking water supply and pollution.

Use of the pier has been suspended as it is close to the Tongling Water Treatment Plant. The pier is used to export cement and clinker products from the unit and bring in raw materials such as coal. The temporary suspension of the plant’s production lines will reduce its clinker production capacity by 58% to just under 9Mt/yr from 15Mt/yr.

The cement producer has defended its environmental record, pointing out that the pier was approved with all the necessary licences and environmental approvals in 1987. Construction of the water treatment plant started in 1992.

Clinker products produced by Tongling Conch are mainly sold to Anhui Conch’s subsidiaries, including cement grinding plants along the Yangtze River and on the coast. The company plans to source clinker from other plants to continue supporting the affected grinding plants.

Ghana/Portugal: Cimpor and ETE Group have collaborated to export 55,900t of clinker from Portugal to Ghana. The clinker was transferred via barges from the river terminal of Cimpor’s Alhandra cement plant before being loaded into a bulk carrier at the Port of Lisbon, according to CE NoticiasFinancieras.

Paraguay: Edgar Acosta, the general manager of Yguazu Cementos, has called for a law banning imports of clinker to be lifted. Acosta, the former president of Industria Nacional del Cemento (INC), argues that the legislation is ‘unfair competition’ as it was introduced in 2006 when INC was the only cement producer in the country, according to the ABC newspaper. However, at present INC imports large volumes of clinker despite owning large reserves of limestone in the country. Of the 550,000t of cement produced by INC in 2017, more than 50% was made with imported clinker. INC imports clinker from Uruguay, Spain and Greece.

Turkey: The first clinker has been produced at the Limak Anka Entegre Cement plant. Turkish engineering company Sintek added that the flame was first lit in mid-march 2018 for the 5000t/day production line. Turkish cement producer Limak signed a US$155m contract with China’s Sinoma and local company Sintek to build the plant in early 2015. The project was originally scheduled to be completed in early 2017.

Bangladesh: A cargo vessel carrying 1035t of clinker has sunk on the Rupsha River. Local police said that water started to enter the ship, MV-BB 134, whilst in the middle of the river when a crack opened in its hull, according to the United News of Bangladesh news agency. The vessel sank within an hour. No casualties have been reported.

Turkey: Data from the Turkish Cement Manufacturers’ Association (TCMA) shows that clinker exports rose by 32.4% year-on-year to 4.93Mt in 2017 from 3.72Mt in 2016. Cement production rose by 6.8% to 80.6Mt from 75.4Mt. Production rose in all regions with the exception of the Aegean and Mediterranean.

Namibia: The Whale Rock Cement plant is set to start producing cement at its new grinding plant near Otjiwarongo in April 2018. Using the Cheetah Cement brand name the company had originally intended to start production in January 2018, according to the Namibia Press Agency. Clinker for the plant has been imported from Egypt. Previously, the imported cement was reported by local media as coming from China.

Originally the company intended to buy clinker from a local producer but the negotiations failed leading the cement producer to buy imports instead. Around 24,000t of clinker from a total of 40,000t have been transported from Walvis Bay to Otjiwarongo by 732 trucks. Once fully operational in August 2018 the plant is expected to create around 600 jobs. The company is a joint venture between China’s Asia-Africa Business Management and Whale Rock Cement.

Argentina: Holcim Argentina plans to import 0.42Mt of clinker between May and December 2018 for US$27.5m. In a measure, agreed by the board of the subsidiary of LafargeHolcim, the cement producer will import the raw material via 10 ships, according to the El Cronista newspaper. The measure is intended to make up for a shortfall between production and local demand.

Namibia: Cheetah Cement has imported 40,000t of clinker from China via the Port of Walvis Bay. The clinker will be transported by truck to the cement producer’s plant in Otjiwarongo, according to the Namibian Sun newspaper. The company is a joint venture between China’s Asia-Africa Business Management and Whale Rock Cement. Its plant was reported ‘complete’ in late 2017 but construction work continued into January 2018.

Nepal: Cement producers in the Parsa-Bara industrial corridor have started importing clinker from the Narayanpur railway station in Bihar. The change in the supply chain has followed disruption in clinker imports via the Raxaul- Birgunj border crossing on environmental grounds, according to the Kathmandu Post newspaper. The longer route has raised production costs due to higher transport fees.