Displaying items by tag: GCW387

Switzerland: Deliveries of cement rose slightly to 4.29Mt in 2018 from 4.27Mt in 2017. CemSuisse, the local cement association, said that it was expecting lower imports in 2018 due to reduced cement demand. Over half of the deliveries were made by rail at 51.5% but the share of road deliveries increased. Over 70% of local cement production was delivered to ready-mix concrete plants and around a further 20% was sent to in-situ concrete plants at major construction projects.

Tajikistan: Tajikistan exported 1.44Mt of cement in 2018 with a value of US$65.4m. This marks a rise of 48% year-on-year from 0.97Mt in 2017 with a value of US$45.9m, according to the Azernews newspaper. Tajikistan exports cement to Uzbekistan, Afghanistan and Kyrgyzstan.

Sweden: LafargeHolcim has been named by Sasja Beslik, the head of sustainable finance at Nordea, as the second worst company for increasing CO₂ emissions in the five years between 2011 and 2016. Other cement companies in the list that Beslik published via his Twitter account include CRH, HeidelbergCement and Shree Cement. The list, entitled ‘The CO₂ Culprits Top 100’, was assembled using data from financial services company MSCI.

Spain: The Department of the Environment has fined Cemex España Euro52,000 for emissions from two of its limestone and marl quarries in Valencia. The cement producer is being penalised for dust emissions from the sites, according to the El Mercantil Valenciano newspaper.

China: Miao Wei, the minister of industry and information technology, says that the government will ‘strictly prohibit’ the production capacity of new cement plants. The ban will also apply to the iron, steel and glass industries, according to Reuters and Xinhua. This latest ban will add to capacity restrictions already imposed upon the cement industry in 2018.

Spain: Cemex has signed a Euro117m deal with the local government to convert the land used by the Gádor cement plant in Almeria for use by new projects. These will include projects in solar and wind power generation, waste fuel production from plastics and biomass and a new concrete batching plant, according to Teleprensa. The initiative is intended to create around 400 jobs.

The cement producer has also signed a similar agreement for its Lloseta in Baleares. The company announced in mid-October 2018 that it was planning to close the two plants due to reduced demand for cement and mounting European CO₂ emissions regulations.

Belgium: The European Commission has approved the acquisition of sole control over Cimpor Portugal by Turkey’s Oyak. The commission ruled that there are no competition concerns between the cement producers given that they operate in different geographic markets. The deal was announced in late October 2018.

France: The SOLPART (Solar-Heated Reactors for Industrials Production of Reactive Particulates) project plans to test a pilot-scale version of its solar reactor from February 2019. The 50kW solar reactor will test a fluidised bed system at its PROMES (PROcédés, Materials and Solar Energy) testing site in Odeillo. The ultimate goal of the project is to test using a rotary kiln and a fluidised bed system to produce cement, lime, gypsum and other non-metallic products using only solar energy. The pilot scale reactor will test calcining limestone at a rate of 50kg/hr. Industrial partners involved with the project include Cemex.

Russia: Italy’s Sibilia has supplied vacuum units to Eurocement’s Voronezh and Peterburgcement plants. In connection to the order workers at the plants also underwent three days of associated training. The cement producer also plans to use equipment from Sibilia at different plants in the country.

US/Europe: US refractory manufacturer Plibrico has entered into a distribution partnership with the Pli Group Europe, a refractory distributor contractor based in Vienna, Austria. Under the new alliance, Pli Group Europe will provide full-service distribution of Plibrico’s Plico brand refractories in Austria, France, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia and Bulgaria, with immediate effect.

“Adding Pli Group Europe to our ranks of Pli Partners allows Plibrico to reinforce its expertise, enhance its service offering and strengthen the value chain offered to customers throughout Europe,” said Brad Taylor, president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Plibrico.