Displaying items by tag: GCW660

Uzbekistan: By the end of 2024, Uzbekistan will commission new cement production capacity of 8Mt/yr, according to the Uzsanoatkurilishmateriallari Association. This expansion will raise the country’s total capacity to 40.8Mt/yr.

Currently, there are 38 cement companies in Uzbekistan, contributing to an existing capacity of 35.3Mt/yr. From January to April 2024, the country produced 4.8Mt of cement, marking a 19% increase from the previous year, Uzbekistan Daily reports. The projected cement production for 2024 is 16.7Mt, closely aligning with last year's demand of 16.8Mt.

Türkiye: Türkiye's exports of cement products to China grew 3% year-on-year to US$1.6m from January to April 2024, Trend News Agency reports. In April 2024, exports surged to US$537,000, up by 30% from April 2023, according to the Trade Ministry.

Conversely, Türkiye's global cement product exports fell 8% to US$1.4bn in the same period, with April 2024 witnessing a 9% decline to US$339.2m. Over the past 12 months, from April 2023 to April 2024, Türkiye's total cement exports reached US$4.5bn.

India: Dalmia Bharat has launched a new mill at its Ariyalur manufacturing unit in Tamil Nadu. The new 1Mt/yr cement unit increases the company's total manufacturing capacity to 45.6Mt/yr. This brownfield expansion is valued at US$24.5m and aligns with the company’s aim to increase its capacity to 110-130Mt/yr by 2031.

Managing director & CEO Puneet Dalmia said "Driven by robust infrastructure development, housing and investments, we anticipate cement demand to rise. This increased capacity will facilitate the growing demand in the southern region."

US: Eagle Materials will modernise and expand its Laramie, Wyoming cement plant, increasing its capacity by 50% to approximately 1.2Mt/yr. The expansion includes a new cement distribution facility in northern Colorado. This project aims to cut manufacturing costs by about 25%, generated by the replacement of traditional fuels with lower cost alternative fuels and natural gas, as well as improved operating efficiency. This upgrade will also reduce CO₂ intensity by nearly 20%, according to the company. The US$430m investment also includes upgrading the existing plant, which became operational in 1927 and currently has a capacity of 800,000t/yr. Construction is set to begin immediately, with completion expected in the second half of 2026.

Spain: Molins has launched a new corporate identity, consolidating its commercial brands—Cementos Molins Industrial, Promsa, Propamsa, Pretersa-Prenavisa and Precon—into the single Molins brand. This move represents a broad array of construction products and solutions under one unified identity. In line with this, Molins also introduces Susterra, a new range of sustainable solutions.

CEO Julio Rodríguez said "Cement is the foundation of this company, accounting for 60% of our current business. However, today we are a company that offers a wide range of construction solutions, and our long-term strategy is to continue growing in all types of construction solutions to provide increasingly better service to our customers."

US: Holcim’s Hagerstown plant in Maryland has increased its alternative fuels substitution rate to 45%, equivalent to 58,000t/yr of engineered fuel. This US$11m initiative utilises end-of-life materials like non-recyclable paper, plastics and fibres, sourced from commercial and industrial materials like packaging. Geocycle, a subsidiary of Holcim US, will process these materials at its new Cumberland facility, which has a capacity of up to 75,000t/yr.

Senior vice president of Manufacturing North for Holcim US, Michael Nixon, said "Expanding our alternative thermal energy use to 45% provides multiple environmental and economic benefits, from lowering the net carbon intensity of our cement to reducing our consumption of traditional fuels. Importantly, it enables us to play a role in the circular economy, offering a highly safe and ecological solution for unused materials."

Vietnam: The Vietnam Cement Association (VNCA) has requested the exemption of clinker from the current 10% export tax, arguing it does not qualify under the Value-Added Tax Law as a natural resource or unprocessed mineral. According to Viet Nam News, VNCA has formally appealed to the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Construction to review the tax, asserting that clinker, produced at temperatures around 1450 - 1500°C, should not be taxed as a mineral resource. The industry exported over 31.3Mt of clinker and cement in 2023, equivalent to US$1.32bn, representing a year-on-year decline of 1.2% in volume and 4.1% in value compared to 2022, marking the second consecutive year of export decline. The total production capacity of Vietnam's 61 cement plants is about 117Mt/yr, with domestic consumption reaching only 56.6Mt.

US: Sublime Systems has announced the first-ever commercial application of its low-carbon Sublime Cement product at WS Development’s One Boston Wharf building in Massachusetts. The concrete placement is located in the Paseo indoor public space at the office building. The floor will be marked with educational materials explaining the significance of decarbonised cement in combating global climate change.

Leah Ellis, the CEO and Co-Founder of Sublime Systems, said “Buildings are monuments to the values of the people who build them, and the One Boston Wharf project represents WS Development’s leadership in ushering in our post-carbon future.” She continued “They are creating not only the building but the world where people want to be. We are honoured to have Sublime Cement featured so prominently here and are confident this pioneering place will inspire infrastructure owners everywhere to embrace low-embodied-carbon materials as a powerful tool for achieving our global net-zero goals.”

Spain: The Mexico-based owner of the Spain-based cement producer FCC, Carlos Slim, is reportedly planning to spin-off its cement and real estate assets into a separate business. The new entity, to be known as Inmocemento, would then be listed on the Madrid stock market, according to Reuters. Slim directly owns around 12% of FCC and controls a further 76% of the company through investment vehicles Inversora Carso and Operadora Inbursa.

Inmocemento would take FCC's cement plants, the majority stake it owns in the real estate developer Realia and a minority stake in Metrovacesa. Current FCC shareholders would receive Inmocemento stakes equivalent to their holdings in FCC.

FCC currently owns assets in different industries such as construction, water and sewage, waste management, cement and real estate. FCC's cement units reported revenues of €614m in 2023, while income from real estate was €254m. Together, these sectors represented 9% of FCC's revenue. It operates its cement business via the Cementos Portland Valderrivas subsidiary.

FCC said in a financial disclosure that its board believes that the move would boost shareholder value as the new and existing companies are likely to be worth more apart than together.

Belgium: Holcim kicked-off its Go4Zero project at its Obourg plant on 16 May 2024 in an event attended by the Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo and the European Commissioner for Climate Action Wopke Hoekstra. The €500m Go4Zero project, supported with €230m of funding from the European Union, will enable the integrated plant to reduce its CO₂ emissions by 30% by 2027 and to produce 2Mt/yr of CO2-free cement by 2029. When fully operational, the Obourg plant will capture 1.2Mt/yr of CO₂.

The Go4Zero project incorporates a number of approaches to achieve net-zero CO₂ cement. The centrepiece is an oxy-fuel combustion process to generate an easy-to-handle exhaust gas with up to 80% CO₂. This will be coupled to a cryogenic purification unit to generate a >99%-pure CO₂ stream .The project will also make use of waste heat recovery (WHR), new exhaust filtration equipment and Europe’s largest floating solar panel farm.