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India: On 9 May 2016 Dalmia Cement withdrew their challenge to a conditional approval given by India’s anti-trust regulator to the proposed merger of Lafarge and Holcim in india. The Competition Appellate Tribunal (CAT) has accepted Dalmia’s decision, paving the way for the sale of Lafarge India’s 11Mt/yr of cement capacity as a part of the merger conditions.
A statement from LafargeHolcim stated, “We are happy Dalmia has withdrawn their appeal to the CAT and look forward to completing the sale of Lafarge India.”
Cement Manufacturers Association of the Philippines lobbies for government projects to use blended cement
09 May 2016Philippines: The Cement Manufacturers Association of the Philippines (CEMAP) has asked the government to use more blended cement in its infrastructure projects to meet its emissions targets. “In the Philippines, the private sector uses more than 80% of blended cement. The government, on the contrary, does the opposite. It uses 80% Portland cement,” said CEMAP president Ernesto Ordoñez in an interview with local press.
In October 2015 the Philippines submitted to the United Nations its initial commitments to address climate change that included a 70% reduction of carbon emissions by 2030. The reduction is targeted to come from the energy, transport, waste, forestry and industry sectors.
Italy: Buzzi Unicem’s cement sales have grown by 3% year-on-year to 5Mt in the first quarter of 2016 from 4.9Mt in the same period in 2015. Overall net sales rose by 5% to Euro540m from Euro513m. Its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose by 87% to Euro50.8m from Euro27.2m. It attributed the increase in sales to a strong performance in the US where cement sales grew by 16.3% in the quarter. Elsewhere cement sales fell in Russia and Ukraine.
Portugal: Cimpor has appealed a judgement by the Supreme Administrative Court cancelling permits to burn alternative fuels at its Souselas cement plant. The North Central Administrative Court cancelled the environmental licences, originally granted by the former Environment Minister Nunes Correia, in March 2016.
UK: Lucideon has benefited from a newly published standard by the British Standards Institution (BSI) for alkali-activated cementitious material and concrete. The materials technology company has been developing and applying its proprietary MIDAR technology based on alkali-activated cements for several years. A recognised building standard gives it a stronger route to market in Europe.
“With the help of our materials experts, manufacturers can develop products using alkali-activated cement technology. This could potentially improve the performance and reduce the raw material costs and carbon footprints of products,” said Rebecca Law, a development scientist at Lucideon.
Lucideon develops materials technologies for a range of industries including construction, healthcare and nuclear sectors. MIDAR is a technology that binds alkalis and aluminosilicate materials, such as those from waste streams including fly ash and blast furnace slags, to form a rigid inorganic material. This technology can be used to make solid or aerated building products.
South Korea: Baring Private Equity Asia and Glenwood Private Equity have completed their acquisition of Lafarge Halla Cement from LafargeHolcim. The company will be rebranded as Halla Cement.
“The Baring Asia team impressed us with its knowledge and experience within the cement industry, and we have confidence in their ability to support our growth in the future. The industry in Korea is seeing a period of strong demand and we expect that to continue in the medium- to long-term, so we are looking forward to capitalising on this as an independent company,” said Jong Goo Moon, CEO of Halla Cement.
Halla Cement operates one 7.6Mt/yr integrated cement plant with four kilns. It runs two slag grinding plants located in Gwangyang, Jeonnam and Pohang, KyongSang with a capacity of 0.8Mt/yr and 1.5Mt/yr respectively. It also operates 10 distribution centres in the country. The company employs around 500 workers.
Somaliland: Raysut Cement, a cement producer based in Oman, has revealed that its project with Barwaaqo Cement Company in Berbera, Somaliland is progressing well. Raysut Cement signed a joint venture agreement with the Barwaaqo Cement Company in September 2014 to build a terminal for packing and distribution of bagged and bulk cement. The terminal will have a storage capacity of 12,000t and will be built with a capital expenditure of US$7.5m, according to the Times of Oman.
Long Son Company orders mill from Loesche
06 May 2016Vietnam: Long Son Company has ordered a cement grinding mill from Loesche for its Dong Son Bim Son cement plant. The order is part of a contract with Sinoma-NCDRI. The contract includes a type LM 56.4 Loesche mill with a performance of 520t/hour. It will grind cement to a fineness of 12% R DIN 0.09mm. The gearbox of this mill has a power output of 3600kW.
US: The US Department of Labor Occupational Safety and Health Administration's (OSHA) Cleveland Area Office has cited Essroc Cement for one repeated and 10 serious safety and health violations at its site in Middlebranch, Ohio. OSHA found that the company had exposed workers to machine, noise and respiratory hazards following an investigation started in November 2015 after a complaint was submitted alleging unsafe working conditions. The US subsidiary of Italacementi faces fines of up to US$92,000 for the violations.
"Employers have a responsibility to protect workers from exposure to noise and respiratory hazards that can lead to debilitating health conditions," said Howard Eberts, OSHA's area director in Cleveland. "Essroc needs to immediately re-evaluate its safety and health programs to keep workers safe on the job."
Essroc operates a slag grinding plant and a cement terminal at the site.
France: French multinational cement producer Vicat Group has reported on its cement sales for the three month period to 31 March 2016. A release from the company stated that ‘firm’ activity was observed in all of its regions apart from West Africa, with improvements in France, Egypt and Turkey relative to the prevailing poorer trends seen in 2015. This was buoyed by continued improvements in India and the US.
Vicat reported that its sales increased by 3.3% on a reported basis and by 6.5% at constant scope and exchange rates in the first quarter of 2016 relative to the same period of 2015. Cement sales totalled Euro291m, exactly matching the prior year period in reported terms but 5% up at constant scope and exchange rates. Consolidated sales across all activities came to Euro554m. In terms of cement volumes, the situation was much improved, with a 13.8% rise year-on-year to 4.83Mt.
"Vicat delivered solid growth in its business in the first quarter of the year,” said Vicat’s CEO Guy Sidos. “It is important to remember that sales in France and Turkey were boosted by significantly better weather conditions than in 2015 and are not representative of what can be expected for the full year.”
“The first few months of the year also confirmed the strong momentum in the
Turkish and US markets as well as the upturn in business in France seen since
the second half of 2015,” added Sidos. “In the rest of Europe, sales were up slightly in Switzerland and stable in Italy at a historically low level. In India, the market was boosted by the start of some large infrastructure projects, supporting the group's business in this region. Lastly, West Africa and the Middle East delivered a contrasting performance, with a very sharp pickup in business in Egypt offsetting a decline in West Africa, in particular in Mali and Mauritania.”
In France, Vicat’s sales came to Euro183m, an 8.9% year-on-year improvement. Cement sales in the country were up by 10.9%. In the rest of Europe (excluding France), overall consolidated sales were up marginally to Euro81m and operational sales derived from cement activities were down by 8.6%, although sales in Switzerland rose by 3.8%.
The US saw a 9.5% improvement in consolidated sales across all activities. In the cement sector, sales were markedly up by 18.4% in revenue terms and by 14% in volume terms.
In Vicat’s Asian region, which includes Turkey, India and Kazakhstan, consolidated sales were down by 2.4% year-on-year to Euro115m. Vicat recorded 20.4% growth in cement operational sales and volumes were up by almost 29%. This was, in part, thanks to better weather conditions than in 2015. There was significantly higher growth in the Ankara region of Turkey, boosted by the restart of one kiln and the commissioning of a second. Vicat’s Indian sales came in at Euro68m and Kazakhstan brought in Euro4.7m.
Vicat’s African operations were split in terms of performance. Egypt performed strongly, with consolidated sales of Euro33m, a 14.5% year-on-year rise for the quarter. However, this was not enough to offset a 7.4% fall in sales in West Africa, which restricted regional consolidated sales to Euro96m, a 2.6% fall year-on-year.