Displaying items by tag: Expansion

Uzbekistan: Chinese investors have announced the launch of a 0.9Mt/yr integrated cement plant in the Fergana region of Uzbekistan as a result of a total investment of US$113m. Trend News has reported that a second phase of work beginning in May 2020 will further increase the cement plant’s production capacity. This is one of five upcoming Chinese-owned integrated plants in Uzbekistan, with a shared capacity of 6.0Mt/yr.

India: Dalmia Bharat has successfully lobbied the Sundargarh, Orisha district government to request the inclusion of the company’s proposed 446 acre expansion to its Lanjiberna limestone and dolomite mine in the agenda of a village meeting in Kukuda, in which public opinion and suggestions will be recorded. The New India Express Newspaper has reported that, due to the special status of Kukuda as a Scheduled Tribal area, the village meeting forms a necessary preliminary step prior to district government permission of planned works. In October 2018, villagers in nearby Jhagarpur successfully blocked construction of Dalmia Bharat’s proposed Industrial Training Institute. The Lanjiberna mine will serve Dalmia Bharat’s 2.3Mt/yr integrated Rajgangpur plant, which was completed in 2019 at a cost of US$281m and awaits commissioning.

Nepal: Udayapur Cement has started work on an upgrade to its 0.3Mt/yr integrated plant aimed at bringing its capacity to 0.4Mt/yr with an investment of US$92,000 from the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies. Republica has reported that the company’s Sindhali mine has resources to supply 200 years’ production. “The company is self-sufficient in all raw materials except coal,” said Nawal Kishor Shah, Udayapur Cement general manager.

India: UltraTech Cement has announced a planned expansion of its Bhogasamundram waste heat recovery (WHR) power plant to 36MW from 20MW. The plant serves its 5.6Mt/yr integrated Andhra Pradesh cement plant. The upgrade is part of an investment of US$14.0m which will also serve to expand the area of the cement plant by 326 hectares.

India: JSW Cement has revised its planned expansion to its 14Mt/yr total installed capacity to 39Mt/yr before 1 January 2023, an increase of 5Mt/yr compared to its initial target of 34Mt/yr by 2020. The figure includes JSW’s 54% subsidiary Shiva Cement’s new 1Mt/yr integrated and 1Mt/yr grinding plant, valued at a total of US$112m. Parth Jindal, JSW Cement managing director, said that the figure had been revised upward because Shiva Cement had become self-sufficient in clinker production, freeing the group’s east Indian cement production from ‘volatile import costs.’

Economic Times has reported that Shiva Cement is set to bring its limestone reserves to 100Mt with the acquisition of the Khatkurbahal mine. The company sources its granulated blast furnace slag from the Odisha steel industry. Production of JSW Cement’s flagship product, JSW Portland Slag Cement (PSC), releases CO₂ at a rate of 325kg/Mt compared to between 760kg/Mt and 800kg/Mt for typical Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC).

US: The Portland Cement Association (PCA) has releases a two-year forecast of moderate growth in cement consumption between 1 January 2020 and 31 December 2021. It projected growth of 1.7% in 2020, slowing slightly to 1.4% in 2021, corresponding to 2.1% and 1.7% GDP growth annually. Speaking at the 38th International Cement Seminar in Atlanta, PCA senior vice president and chief economist Ed Sullivan projected consumption growth of 1.6% - 2.3% in 2019 against GDP growth of 2.4% over the period, with consumption bolstered by the 2018 Federal Budget, which allowed for US$20bn in infrastructure investments in 2018 and 2019. He noted growing uncertainty (21% in 2019) with the expiry of the ‘pent-up demand zip that invigorates the initial stages of economic recovery long past.’

Rising house prices and mild inflation signify the continuation of the US economy’s longest expansion post-World War Two, with 161,000 net new jobs generated so far in 2019. With a forecasted population increase of 60m by 2040, US cement producers appears still have their work cut out in keeping up with demand.

India: Dalmia Bharat Cement will invest US$492m in projects to expand its cement production capacity by 8Mt/yr to 34Mt/yr from 26Mt/yr. The sum includes a consolidated investment of US$422m in brownfield developments in Eastern India to increase integrated capacity at its Rajgangpur plant in Odisha by 3.0Mt/yr, and at its Kasba plant in West Bengal by 2.7Mt/yr, to 6.6Mt/yr and 4.0Mt/yr respectively. The expansion is scheduled for completion by March 2020.

Germany: Hosokawa Alpine will sell and rent out pre-owned process-technological machines. It has announced that its new rental and used equipment division will uphold the usual Alpine quality.

China: Taiwan Cement has published information on behalf of its shipping subsidiary Ta-Ho Maritime concerning the latter’s purchase of two 84,000t capacity bulk carrier vessels at a price not exceeding US$70m from Japan-based shipbuilder Sumitomo. The deal contains an option to purchase a third unit for not more than US$35m, to be exercised before 30 September 2019.

US: Lehigh Cement has applied to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection to expand the quarry at its Nazareth cement plant. It wants to increase its mining area by a third to 112 hectares from 84 hectares according to the Express-Times newspaper. A public consultation period on the application will run until late December 2018.