Displaying items by tag: GCW244

Pakistan: The All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association (APCMA) has led demands that the government abolish the gas infrastructure development cess (tax) (GIDC) because it has made Pakistan-produced cement uncompetitive for export. APCMA chairman Mohammad Ali Tabba said that declining fuel prices, including liquefied natural gas in the international markets, had added to the situation, according to local press.

The Pakistan government enacted the Gas Infrastructural Development Act of 2011 thereby charging a cess or levy on all non-domestic gas consumers. However, the tax has been resisted legally since that time with tussles over whether back taxes should be collected or not.

Tabba also added that a recent increase on the import duty from 1% to 6% on coal should be reduced to zero.

Italy: Italian economic development minister Federica Guidi is scheduled to meet with Bernd Scheifele, CEO of HeidelbergCement, to discuss its acquisition of Italcementi. The transaction has been closely followed by the minister since its announcement and Guidi had already met Scheifele in the early stages of the process, according to the Il Sole 24 Ore newspaper. HeidelbergCement had asked for more time to complete competition requirements at the European level before this latest meeting.

Ukraine: Ukrcement, the Ukranian association of cement producers, has urged government agencies to be more effective in preventing sales of packaged cement. A study by Ukrcement with the NGO Union of Ukrainian Consumers has reportedly shown a rise in volumes of counterfeit product at large DIY retail chains.

"Ten samples [of packaged cement] were bought in several DIY supermarkets in Kyiv during the third phase of the project in early 2016. The conclusion is that the situation with counterfeit cement has been worsening. Violations have been revealed in all the chains," said Ukrcement CEO Roman Skylsky. "We insist on toughening oversight over the quality of cement programs and punishment for the sale of counterfeit products."

Russia: Krasnoyarsk Cement, a subsidiary of Siberian Cement, has started making Portland cement of CEM I type with strength class 42.5. The product is intended for the production of concrete for road and airfield paving, bridge structures and precast concrete elements for transport engineering. The material meets the requirements of GOST R 55224-2012 and GOST 30515-2013 state standards.

Venezuela: Production has been disrupted at the Industria Venezolana del Cemento (Invecem) cement plant due to a lack of raw materials. Despite this, a new 1Mt/yr production line at the plant was inaugurated on 3 March 2016. The upgrade cost US$168m according to the El Carabobeno newspaper. Other problems reported at the site include machine failures.

Uganda: Sandvik Construction has announced that Victoria Equipment is its new distributor in Uganda. Victoria Equipment will supply a range of Sandvik equipment, and provide aftermarket care, spare parts and customer service. The agreement was formalised in February 2016.

"The additional portfolio (of Sandvik equipment) will bring heavy duty equipment and technical expertise closer to our end user as opposed to flying in technicians from abroad," said Sam Kibuuka the Financial Director of General Machinery Group, the holding company for Victoria Equipment.

Sandvik Construction specialises in equipment, tools and service for the breaking, drilling and crushing niches in the construction industry. Application areas include tunnelling, quarrying, well drilling, civil engineering, dimensional stone, demolition and recycling.

China: Anhui Conch Cement has reported that its net profit fell by 30% year-on-year to US$1.16bn in 2015. Its revenue fell by 16% to US$7.63bn. It blamed the poor financial results on slower fixed-asset investment and a slowing housing market limiting the demand of cement and pushing prices down.

The producer's cement output grew by 2% to 224Mt in 2015. Its cement production capacity reached 290Mt/yr by the end of 2015.

Canada: CSA Group has announced the registration of its first environmental product declaration (EPD) by the Cement Association of Canada. The registration is for general use and portland-limestone cements.

"Cement is used virtually exclusively to make concrete, a material that is literally the foundation of modern society and that will play a key role in the transition to a low carbon and climate resilient future," said Michael McSweeney, President and CEO of the Cement Association of Canada. "The cement and concrete industry is committed to doing all it can to help in this transition. Not only are EPDs an important tool for providing data and transparency on materials but also to support complex integrated design processes that help maximize the role that materials like concrete can play in advanced energy efficient design."

CSA Group is a not-for-profit standards organisation based in Canada. EPDs provide a standard way to communicate the environmental impact of available products and can be used as part of the life-cycle assessment of a building. EPDs can measure environmental impacts from raw material extraction to the end product. They take into account factors such as overall energy use and efficiency, emissions and waste generation.

India: McNally Bharat Engineering Company has decided to merge itself, its subsidiary McNally Sayaji Engineering and EMC with Kilburn Engineering. Its board of directors will now value the companies to determine the share exchange ratio and draft the scheme of amalgamation, according to Accord Fintech.

McNally Bharat Engineering Company is an engineering company providing turnkey solutions across many industries including cement, material handling, mineral beneficiation, pyroprocessing, power, steel and others. Its subsidiary McNally Sayaji Engineering focuses on crushing and raw mineral processing.

Germany: Rheinkalk GmbH has commissioned Silobau Thorwesten to supply a large capacity silo to its Flandersbach lime plant. The silo was originally commissioned in March 2015 and is due to become operational in March 2016. The 42m silo has an explosion pressure shock resistant design and is equipped with ATEX-conform explosion vents and de-dusting filters from associate company Thorwesten Vent to handle combustible pulverised coal.

The scope of supply for this 1100m³ capacity silo also includes a discharging station for silo trucks which can convey the material pneumatically by rotary piston fan via the silo roof. A dust collector assists the filling process. Additionally, the new silo has a continuous weighing system with weighing cells and separately controllable fluidisation devices on two silo outlets. These installations help feed combustible material into the dosing system. For the circulation operation there is also a duct protected by a shut-off valve.

Besides planning and delivery of the main and sub-systems of the new silo, Silobau Thorwesten also handled the design and erection of the entire steel constructions, as well as the integration of the components into the existing process chain.