Displaying items by tag: Egypt

France: Vicat says it offset rising energy costs by raising its prices in 2021. It reported growth in most places as markets recovered from the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. It also noted a particular improvement in Egypt as government-mandated changes came into force in July 2021. The group’s consolidated sales rose by 11.3% year-on-year to Euro3.12bn in 2021 from Euro2.81bn in 2020. Cement and concrete volumes increased by 12.4% to 28.1Mt and 12.5% to 10.5Mm³ respectively. Its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) grew by 11.1% to Euro619m from Euro557m.

“Conditions in our markets remained dynamic, supported by favourable pricing trends in a context of sustained demand. This offsets the sharp rise in energy costs and wage increases,” said Vicat group chairman Guy Sidos.

UAE/Egypt: Orascom Construction, a UAE-based engineering and construction contractor, has acquired Orascom Trading, an Egypt based provider of heavy machinery equipment, including equipment for the global cement sector.

Egypt: Capriole subsidiary EGY Crete plans to establish a concrete products plant in Beni Suef Province by 2024. The plant will produce paving slabs, among other products.

Kenya: A report by the National Independent Clinker Verification Committee has found that the country has a clinker shortage of up to 3.3Mt/yr. It added that 59% of the imported clinker to compensate for this originates from Egypt without any tariffs, according to the East African newspaper. The committee was originally set up by the government in response to lobbying from industry to increase the duty on imported clinker to 25% from 10% at present. However, the committee also reported that Egypt has benefited from a free trade agreement. Local producers are divided against the proposal to raise tariffs on clinker as some of them reply on imports.

The report found that 3.8Mt of clinker was produced locally in 2020 against a demand of 5.3Mt. Local producers were reported to have been operating at a 65% capacity utilisation rate. Egypt and the UAE accounted for 92% of all clinker imports with a further 7% supplied by Saudi Arabia.

Egypt: Suez Cement is planning to invest US$20m on an 18MW waste heat recovery unit at its integrated Helwan plant. The subsidiary of Germany-based HeidelbergCement started the project in mid-2021 and expects to complete it by the end of 2022. It is currently negotiating with suppliers and hopes to appoint one soon with construction scheduled for 2022.

Algeria: An Egypt-based investment company has initiated legal action against Algeria over issues relating to two cement plant projects. The Global Arbitration Review newspaper has reported that the company is seeking to claim US$900m in damages.

Egypt: France-based Vicat raised a case against the Egyptian government with the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) in late June 2021. It concerns its cement production business. Reporting by the Qatar-based New Arab newspaper alleges that the cement producer was forced to reduce its shares in its subsidiary Sinai Cement due to a law stopping foreign ownership of companies operating in the Sinai Peninsula on the basis of security grounds. It reports that Vicat has reduced its shares in its subsidiary to 42% from 56% previously.

Vicat confirmed in its financial report for 2020 that it was in the process of taking legal action locally on the matter of foreign ownership in the Sinai region. It added that an investment of around Euro35m in Sinai Cement had been delayed due to administrative approval time. In July 2021, Tamer Magdy, the country manager for Sinai Cement, told local press that Vicat was keen to continue investing in the market.

Egypt: Tamer Magdy, the country manager for Sinai Cement, says that parent company Vicat is keen to continuing to invest in the local market. He noted that noted that the France-based building materials producer is a long-term investor with confidence in the Egyptian economy and that it has no plans to leave, according to the Daily News Egypt newspaper.

He praised the government’s decision in early July 2021 to introduce reduced cement production quotas. The group is also keen for the authorities to develop the Sinai region more, where its main market is based. Vicat has operated in Egypt since 2003 when it acquired Sinai Cement. However, Magdy also called on the government to provide subsidies for exports.

Egypt: Redecam says it has successfully started up a project one line two at Lafarge Egypt’s Ain Al-Sokhna cement plant. The upgrade consisted of: converting the main kiln’s electrostatic precipitator (ESP) into a bag filter; enhanced the cooling system for the clinker cooler, including a partial ESP retrofit; and revamping the bypass the gas conditioning tower and dust transport system. The Italy-based engineering company previously carried out a similar project on line three at the plant in 2020.

Egypt: The Egyptian Competition Authority has approved a request by 23 cement producers for permission for a temporary reduction in their cement output by 11%, with additional cuts of 3% per kiln line. Reuters has reported that the reduced quotas will be in force between 15 July 2021 and 15 July 2022. Previously, two cement executives quoted by the source said that the proposed cuts seemed unfair on multinational companies, like them, that operate older plants.