Displaying items by tag: GCW66

Lawlessness, strike action and increases in energy inputs are the three factors hindering Turkish investment in Egypt.

These concerns arose in a meeting held last week between the Minister of Industry and Foreign Trade Hatem Saleh and a Turkish trade delegation. It was also reported that Turkish investors have applied to build a cement plant in the Sinai region of Egypt.

Investing in Egypt by a cement company seems risky given that both Italcementi and Lafarge have shown problems in the country in their recent financial reports. Italcementi reported a loss in sales in its first half results for 2012 partly due to the Egyptian market. Lafarge saw volumes fall by 11% in its second quarter in Egypt due to limited gas supply.

Nationally cement demand fell by 8% in 2011 to 45.2Mt due to the political unrest of the 'Arab Spring'. In January 2012 the government cut energy subsidies to heavy industry, including cement, to narrow its budget deficit.

Lawlessness is certainly a concern. In August 2012 Suez Cement suspended construction of a plant expansion project amid civil unrest. It had also suffered from strikes at its plants earlier in the year. Earlier in the month Egypt launched air strikes in the Sinai region close to the border with Gaza killing 20 people. Previous to this a group of Chinese cement workers working in the Sinai were kidnapped in January 2012.

Yet Titan, despite its losses so far in 2012, reported in its first half results at the end of August 2012 that the construction sector maintained its positive momentum in the country. In addition, it said that demand for building materials grew absorbing production from new cement plants entering the market.

Recent developments supporting this optimistic trend have included Arabian Cement increasing its capacity to 5Mt/yr with the opening of its second production line. FLSmidth recently won a contract to operate and maintain two production lines for Egyptian National Cement. ASEC Cement expects full production of 1.9Mt/yr at Minya to begin by the first quarter of 2013.

With a mixed picture emerging, the cement industry in Egypt shows potential for those producers willing to take the risks, or those able to minimise them. Even at the proposal stage the new Turkish project in Sinai has been linked with the al-Maghara coal supplies of the northern Sinai.

Australia: Australian buildings materials company Boral has appointed the head of its US division, Mike Kane, as its new chief executive officer following the departure of Mark Selway in May 2012. Kane will assume the post on 1 October 2012.

Kane joined the company in February 2010 and has executive experience at four other materials companies including US Gypsum, Hanson Building Materials, Johns-Manville and Holcim

"He has spent the past two and a half years significantly realigning the US business to the changed market conditions and positioning Boral to take full advantage of the US market recovery," said chairman Bob Every.

Kane said Boral has an increasingly significant position in the global building materials industry and said its Asian plasterboard unit provides a growth opportunity in that region.

Germany: Klaus Löppenberg, manager of the Fan Division at Venti Oelde has retired after 35 years with the company. Peter Herrmann, an experienced engineer with many years service with Venti, will succeed him.

"I should like to thank all those who have accompanied me through the past years for their mutual respect and successful cooperation," said Löppenberg in a statement.

Venti Oelde develops innovative air technology. Its plants and components are used for collecting, handling and filtering of air, vapours, gases, dust and airborne solids. It provides the cement industry with process fans for arduous operating conditions through the complete process chain, from firing and cooling, taking in grinding and separating to dust collection.

Image: Klaus Löppenberg (right) retired on 31 August 2012 after 35 years with Venti Oelde. His successor Peter Herrmann (left), is an experienced engineer with many years service at Venti.

Germany: Gebr. Pfeiffer SE has announced new orders for vertical roller mills (VRM) in Poland and Malaysia.

Pfeiffer has won the contract to supply a MPS 3070 BC VRM for grinding 46t/h of blast-furnace slag for the Odra works in Opole, Poland.

At the plant it is intended that slag ground to 3800cm²/g Blaine will be used as an additive to the cement. The VRM will feature a main drive with an output of 1350kW for a production rate of 46t/hr. Exhaust gases produced by the clinker cooler will allow the slag to be dried from a 9% feed moisture level down to below a 1% residual moisture level while being ground in the mill. The design of the mill will also make it possible to grind as much as 45t/hr of Ordinary Portland Cement to a fineness of 3500cm²/g Blaine.

In Malaysia Pfieffer has won a contract from KHD Humboldt Wedag for the construction of a 5000t/day plant. KHD is acting as a general contractor for an order from Straits Cement, a subsidiary of the Malaysian YTL Group.

Pfieffer is to supply the VRM for grinding cement raw material and coal. A MPS 4750 B raw mill is to be set up which can handle a capacity of 300t/hr of cement raw material ground to a product fineness of 12% R 90µm. The coal mill of the type MPS 2800 BK will be capable of grinding 35t/hr of coal.

UK: ANH Refractories Europe is relaunching its range of products for the cement sector. Managing director Peter Rooney said that the aim is to simplify the customer product selection process and drive customer satisfaction.

"This move will help to boost exports with the firm targeting cement manufacturers across Europe, India and the Middle East, as well as the US," said Rooney.

The American-owned refractory products manufacturer has streamlined its range to present a core offering of monolithic, brick and precast refractories. However, the portfolio still retains ANH's signature products. Brands such as Vesta and Versaflow are now readily available from its new distribution hubs outside America.

Key products in the new revised range include both Magnel and Vesta bricks. It further includes Versaflow and Versagun castable and gunmixes such as Versaflow 70C Adtech for discharge and cooler bull nose rings. Another key product is Versaflow 45 Plus for inlet sections, cooler discharge chutes, side walls and tertiary air ducts.

ANH Refractories Europe provides solutions for the full range of cement kiln refractory applications from upper to lower transition zones to preheaters, coolers, tertiary air ducts and burner pipes. Recent deals have seen ANH supplying a range of these products to the Holcim Ste. Genevieve plant, USA HeidelbergCement, Ketton UK and Lafarge, Retznei Austria. The company has recently expanded its sales and engineering teams, including the appointment of Stephan Frank, a senior refractory engineer, hired to drive exports in emerging cement markets including Turkey, Ukraine and India.

India: Villagers living near an ACC Cement plant in Orissa have accused the company of mismanaging its fly ash. According to the villagers living in Khaliapali, crops have been damaged by runoff fly ash created by a captive power plant at the nearby Bargarh cement plant. The resultant slurry has also spilled into the fields of the neighbouring villages of Banjibahali and Baragad.

Khaliapali villagers have accused ACC Cement of taking over 12 acres of land in the village and forcibly dumping fly ash on it despite protests. They said fly ash has become a nuisance in the village as it covers the houses and village water tank rendering water unfit for human use.

Additional District Magistrate Srinibas Kabi commented that the Regional Office of the Odisha State Pollution Control Board (OSPCB) had noted the villagers' concerns. However, OSPCB Regional Officer S S Mishra said they had not received any complaint from the Bargarh administration.

Czech Republic: Czech cement producer Cement Hranice has reported a rise in sales of 14.5% year-on-year to Euro68.8m in 2011, due to higher exports. Its net profit increased by 10% to Euro20.3m following a previous drop, the company said in its annual report.

In 2010 the producer's sales dropped by 15% to Euro60.4m and its profit decreased by 26% to Euro18.5m. Cement Hranice's results improved in 2011 due to supplies to a sister company in Poland, according to the firm's chairman Jaromir Chmela. Sales of cement were also favourably influenced by good weather in 2011. The company raised the amount of sold products by 25% in 2011 as a result.

"Poland has not been affected by a crisis in the construction segment because it was preparing infrastructure for the European football championship," said Chmela.

Although Cement Hranice's sales increased in 2011, revenue fell due to a decrease in prices. Before 2011 the company sold 75% to 80% of its production on the Czech market but in 2011 its share dropped to 65%. The remaining 35% of production was exported to Poland, Hungary and Slovakia, increasing Cement Hranice's exports.

Cement Hranice's expects a drop in sales, as well as in profit, in 2012. The company's results will be influenced by the economic crisis and a continuing fall in construction output, according to Chmela. Cement Hranice, whose owner is German company Dyckerhoff AG, employed 166 people in 2011.

Saudi Arabia: The management board of Saudi cement producer Qassim Cement (QC)has approved the installation of a new production line with a daily production capacity of 5500t/yr. The company said the move is in line with its efforts to meet growing demand. No financial details were made available.

QC, based in Buraida in eastern Saudi Arabia, was established in 1976 and is one of the eleven listed cement companies operating in the Kingdom.

Germany: 350 customers, representatives and employees of the Haver Group from Germany and other countries have attended the Haver Technology Days event on 27 – 29 August 2012 at the A2 Forum in Rheda, Germany.

The conference informed guests about strategic and technical innovations in the company, discussed international industry trends and presented the Haver Group generally to delegates. The event also celebrated the family-owned company's 125-year anniversary.

Kazakhstan: Steppe Cement has reported a pre-tax profit of US$391,000 for the first six months of 2012. For the same period in 2011 the Kazakhstan-based producer made a loss of US$2.84m.

Revenue rose by 21% to US$52.2m from US$43.1m. Sales of cement rose by 2.5% to 616,000t from 601,000t. Steppe Cement also reported that its production costs per tonne increased by 11% due to higher electricity, transportation and coal costs, although this was partly offset by productivity increases.

In its interim results Steppe Cement also reported that the Kazakhstan cement market as a whole increased by 16% during the first half of 2012. It expects national demand to rise by 9.7% in 2012 to 6.8Mt/yr from 6.2Mt/yr in 2011. Overall local production has increased by 20% in the first half of 2012 compared to 2011, with the share of imported cement decreasing from 17% to 14%. The Kazakhstan government has continued its road building plan as well as significant infrastructure projects in the main cities.