Displaying items by tag: GCW284
Pakistan powers forward
11 January 2017The All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association (APCMA) struck a triumphant note this week as it announced that its industry has over 26Mt/yr of capacity upgrades in the pipeline. Its chairman Sayeed Saigol concluded in a press release that the country’s growth trend required ‘massive’ investment and that its producers were working on it.
Graph 1 – Local and export cement despatches in Pakistan, 2008 – 2016. Data source: APCMA.
Graph 1 shows how the local industry has changed since 2009. At this time exports hit a high of over 11Mt, constituting 34% of all cement despatches at the time. Since then though exports have fallen to below 6Mt or 14% of despatches, as local despatches have started to increase. Although local despatches have risen each year, the growth rate was below 1% in 2011. In 2016 it was over 14%.
Much has changed since 2010. At this time production capacity hit a high of 45Mt/yr in the 2009 – 2010 Pakistan financial year, according to APCMA data, but then utilisation sunk to below 73%, its lowest rate in over a decade. Pakistan’s cement producers sought a way out by exporting their cement. Export volumes subsequently exploded to a high of nearly 11Mt in 2008 – 2009 from next to nothing at the turn of the millennium.
The effects of this had particular repercussions in eastern and southern Africa as local producers suffered against seaborne imports. In 2012 the outgoing chief of South Africa’s PPC summarised the problem by saying that imports were not a threat to African expansion, provided that a cement plant was not built within 200km of a port. Rightly or wrongly cement from Pakistan was vilified by the African press and then legislated against. South Africa even implementing anti-dumping duties to howls of derision from Pakistan.
Funnily enough though the APCMA has recommended that Pakistan’s government do exactly the same thing against imports of cement from Iran. Industry scare stories about Iranian cement being sold illegally in Pakistan have circulated since at least 2012. Iran’s nuclear deal in 2015 must have worried the local industry, as the prize for Iran was the lifting of international sanctions making it easier for one of the world’s largest cement producers to start exporting its product. However, president-elect Trump’s disdain for the Iran deal may put those worries to rest if the deal is ‘cancelled’.
Back to the present, the Pakistan cement industry appears to be booming. One motor is the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor, a collection of infrastructure projects worth US$54bn. There is some disagreement at this point about how the usage levels of cement breakdown, with the chief executive of Thatta Cement placing it at 60% for infrastructure and 40% for housing but with other commentators placing it at 70% for housing and 30% for infrastructure. If the latter is true then Pakistan’s cement producers may receive an even bigger payday. The emphasis on housing shouldn’t be underestimated though as the country’s production capacity per capita, below 200kg/capita, is low by international standards. Either way, things are looking good for the local producers.
Denmark: Piero Corpina has been appointed as the head of the Nordic & Baltic region of Aalborg Portland Holding and chief executive officer of Aalborg Portland and Unicon with effect from 2 January 2017. The Nordic & Baltic Region includes Aalborg Portland, Unicon with plants in Denmark, Norway and Sweden, and subsidiaries in Poland, Russia, Iceland, the UK, France and the US. Corpina will be based at the group’s Nordic headquarters at Islands Brygge in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Corpina, aged 47 years, has 20 years of industry experience with LafargeHolcim covering senior line, staff and project roles and he worked on the merger between Lafarge and Holcim. In 2011 he was nominated the chief executive officer of Holcim Italy.
The Italian and Swiss national holds an MBA and PhD from Hochschule St Gallen in Switzerland and is an alumnus of Harvard Business School in Boston, USA and IMD in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Bheki Mthembu appointed chief of Cimerwa
11 January 2017Rwanda: Bheki Mthembu has been appointed the chief executive officer of Cimerwa, PPC’s subsidiary in the country. Mthembu has been in post since December 2016, according to the Business Day newspaper. Mthembu holds a degree in chemistry from the University of KwaZulu-Natal. He has worked for PPC since 1995.
Aumund wins order for six production lines in Egypt
11 January 2017Egypt: Aumund has won a contract to supply clinker conveying equipment for six production lines. The tender is part of a project by Chengdu Design & Research Institute of Building Materials Industry (CDI), a subsidiary of Sinoma International Engineering, to build the 6000t/day lines for the government. No value has been released for the order.
The lines will each be equipped by Aumund with four 650t/hr BWG belt bucket elevators and three 550t/hr BWZ chain bucket elevators. The machinery package also includes four 170t/hr BWG-L belt bucket elevators, one 80t/hr BWZ-L chain bucket elevator and six 375t/hr pan conveyors for each of the six lines. Altogether the order comprises 108 machines.
The new project in Beni Suef is to be completed by the end of 2020. The pilot phase of the new production lines is due to start as early as December 2017. Aumund will supply the machines to Egypt in three deliveries, between April and June 2017.
JSW Cement makes open offer to buy out Shiva Cement
11 January 2017India: JSW Cement has acquired a promoters' share in Shiva Cement and has also launched an open offer to acquire a 32% stake from public shareholders in the company. JSW Cement, with Sun Investments Private and Reynold Traders, has made an open offer to the public equity shareholders of Shiva Cement to buy up to a 32% share in the company at a value of US$12.8m. In late September 2016 promoters of Shina Cement held a 37.15% stake, while public shareholders held the remaining 62.85%, according to Indian media.
FLSmidth to build cement plant for EcoCementos in Colombia
11 January 2017Colombia: FLSmidth has received an order from OHL Industrial for engineering, procurement and supply of equipment for a complete cement production line with a capacity of 3150t/day. The plant will be located in Rio Claro in the Sonsón municipality of Antioquia. The end client of the project is Empresa Colombiana de Cementos (EcoCementos), a company jointly owned by Cementos Molins and Grupo Corona, with whom OHL Industrial has an engineering, construction and procurement (EPC) contract.
The order includes a complete range of equipment from crushing to packing and loadout. Supply includes an ATOX 37.5 vertical mill for raw grinding, an ATOX 17.5 vertical mill for coal grinding, a ROTAX-2 rotary kiln with low NOx ILC calciner, a FLSmidth Cross-Bar cooler, a JETFLEX burner and an OK(TM) 39-4 vertical mill for cement grinding. The order is planned for completion in the first quarter of 2018.
"The project underlines FLSmidth's strength as a leading supplier of the most productive and energy-efficient equipment and technology - and our market leader position as a full scope plant provider," said FLSmidth Group Executive Vice President, Cement Division, Per Mejnert Kristensen.
Sibirskiy Cement spent US$17.8m on upgrades in 2016
11 January 2017Russia: Sibirskiy Cement spent a total of US$17.8m towards upgrading its cement plants in 2016. It spent US$5.2m towards modernising and automating production and about US$12.6m on the repair and maintenance of equipment, according to local media. Installing automated control systems was a priority of the upgrade work. Notably, the cement producer’s Topkinskiy plant received upgrades to its grinding and finished products units. Upgrade work will continue in 2017 with purchases of both domestic and foreign equipment.
Belarus: The Belarusian government has reduced its national plan for the production, consumption and export of cement from 2017 to 2020. The national cement production target has been set at 4.5Mt in 2017, 4.7Mt in 2018, 4.9Mt in 2019 and 5.1Mt in 2010, according to local media. During this period it is anticipated that the country’s cement production capacity will fall to 5.9Mt/yr from 5.4Mt/yr. Exports of cement are forecast to reach 1.6Mt in 2017, 1.7Mt in 2018 and 2019 and 1.8Mt in 2020. Consumption of cement is planned to be 3.3Mt/yr in 2017, 3.4Mt in 2018, 3.5Mt in 2019 and 3.6mt in 2020. The country produces cement from three state-controlled integrated plants.
Van Beek and Penko develop weighing screw
11 January 2017Netherlands: Van Beek Schroeftransport and Penko Engineering have developed a screw conveyor that can monitor in real time how much product the screw is transporting. Flow on the screw can be set and the screw can also be programmed to stop upon reaching a pre-specified weight or to empty itself and then stop. During operation measurements such as the material speed (m/s), flow rate (kg/s) and transported volumes can be monitored. The weighing screw was exhibited for the first time at the Industrial Processing exhibition in Utrecht in the Netherlands in October 2016.
Cemex increases offer to buy Trinidad Cement
10 January 2017Trinidad & Tobago: Cemex has increased its offer to buy a controlling stake in Trinidad Cement. The cement producer has instructed its subsidiary Sierra Trading to make a higher offer and take-over bid with a value of US$101m with a deadline of 24 January 2017. Previously, in early December 2016 it offered US$89m. The amended offer is dependent on Cemex acquiring control of Trinidad Cement, among other conditions. In late December 2016 the directors of Trinidad Cement advised shareholders to reject Cemex’s offer because it was seen as poor value.